■ Game Consoles
Sony sticks to its guns
Sony Corp said it was closely watching trends in the market for game machines and has no plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 2 console, following a report that Microsoft Corp will reduce the price of its XBox game unit. "We have our own marketing strategy," said Yoshiko Furusawa, an investor relations official at Sony Computer Entertainment. "We don't do something just because Microsoft cut its prices." Microsoft plans to reduce the price of its XBox game console by 17 percent to US$149 to compete with Sony, according to an earlier report from the Nihon Keizai newspaper. Microsoft declined to comment on the report.
■ Semiconductors
Fujitsu to build new plant
Fujitsu said yesterday it would build a US$1.5 billion quake-proof plant in Japan to produce cutting-edge chips for cellphones, DVD recorders and other hi-tech gadgets. The company said it plans to begin constructing the plant at its Mie semiconductor complex in western Japan for a total investment of ?160 billion (US$1.5 billion) in the next three years. The factory would use large diameter 300mm wafers to mass-produce advanced chips with 90 nanometer-wide circuits initially and eventually produce with the next-generation 65-nanometer circuitry, Fujitsu said. The plant will also be the world's first semiconductor factory equipped with micro-vibration control and resistance to earthquakes.
■ Drinks
NGO targets brewery
A non-governmental organization (NGO) has accused Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) of exploiting Cambodian women to sell its products there, a newspaper reported yesterday. Headquartered in Singapore, APB-owned Cambodia Breweries distributes Tiger Beer, Anchor, ABC Stout and Heineken beer. Heineken, a Dutch beer-maker, owns 34 percent of APB. A similar charge has been levelled against several other breweries, including American company Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, and Danish beer-maker Carlsberg, The Straits Times said. The study by the NGO, Siem Reap Citizens for Health, Education and Social Issues, claims the women are paid a pittance and have to turn to prostitution to make ends meet and to lure customers so they can fulfil their sales quotas.
■ Gas
China signs Iran deal
A Chinese company has signed a preliminary agreement with Iran to buy US$20 billion worth of liquefied natural gas over 25 years in one of the biggest deals of its kind, a newspaper reported yesterday. The deal adds to massive Chinese efforts in recent years to secure new energy supplies both at home and abroad to feed its surging economy. The agreement with Iran calls for Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp to buy 2.5 million tonnes of natural gas annually from Iran beginning in 2008, The Asian Wall Street Journal said. It comes two years after China signed deals worth a total of US$21.5 billion to buy gas from Australia and Indonesia. A Chinese-led consortium also is building a 3,900km pipeline to carry gas from the remote northwestern Xinjiang region to Shanghai, the country's commercial capital.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique