■ Semiconductors
Citigroup to up Hynix offer
A private equity unit of Citigroup Inc is willing to raise its bid for Hynix Semiconductor Inc's non-memory chip business after its offer of 750 billion won (US$647 million) was rejected, people involved in the offer said. Hynix said in a regulatory filing on Tues-day that talks with Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners LP ended. Korea Exchange Bank, Hynix's largest shareholder, and other creditors of the world's fourth-largest computer-memory chip-maker, indicated they were prepared to accept Citi-group's cash-and-debt offer, people involved said, asking not to be identified. The offer is stymied because Korea Exchange hasn't got all creditors to agree, the person said. Citigroup is seeking to buy the unit amid rising demand for chips used in consumer elec-tronics, such as cellphones and digital cameras.
■ Semiconductors
Infineon still seeking boss
Infineon Technologies AG, the German semiconductor maker looking for a new chief executive after the supervisory board ousted Ulrich Schumacher last month, may choose the head of Intel Corp. in Europe, Frankfurter Allge-meine Zeitung reported, citing the Intel executive. Juergen Thiel is among the candidates Munich-based Infineon is considering as a successor to Schumacher, the paper said. Thiel in an interview with the paper didn't deny reports that he would be open to such an offer, Frankfurter Allge-meine said. Infineon supervisory board chairman Max Dietrich Kley, who is leading the search for a new executive, took over as interim chief executive when Schumacher quit. Thiel, who has been with Intel since 1990, added he still sees his future career there, the newspaper said.
■ Cable TV
Motorola criticized
Motorola Inc has been criticized by cable-TV operators for not including digital video-recorders with its set-top boxes more quickly, The Wall Street Journal reported. Motorola is the largest supplier of set-top boxes, the paper said. Its boxes with built-in digital recorders became available late last year, whereas its largest rival, Scientific-Atlanta Inc, has been shipping them since July 2002, the paper said. Satellite-TV providers have been offering digital-recording service for more than three years, the Journal said. Some cable operators had wanted to offer a digital-recording service earlier to compete with satellite TV, the paper reported, citing John Pascarelli, executive vice president with Mediacom Communications Corp.
■ Telecom
Telstra shares rise
Shares in Australian tele-com giant Telstra Corp soared 2.85 percent in early trading yesterday as inves-tors digested the shock resignation of chairman Bob Mansfield. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange late Wednesday, Mansfield said the "bond of trust" within the board had been broken and the board was no longer functioning effectively. "As chairman, I cannot be accountable for the actions of individual directors, but I do accept that the board cannot operate as it does now and that the chairman, in those circumstances, bears responsibility," he said. He had headed the board since January 2000. His move came two months after he supported a failed bid by Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski to take over John Fairfax Holdings.
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