■ Computers
Gateway cuts more jobs
Gateway Inc is cutting another 1,500 jobs, or about 40 percent of its remaining work force, only a month after a similar cut. Thursday's announcement came as Gateway posted its 13th loss in 14 quarters. The jobs will be eliminated by year's end, chief executive Wayne Inouye said. The layoffs will leave the computer seller with about 2,000 employees, down from its peak of nearly 25,000 employees in 2000. Earlier this month, the Poway, California-based company shut all 188 of its retail stores. "We are in the midst of a far-reaching effort to simplify our business and fundamentally change our cost structure as we push toward a return to sustained profitability," Inouye said.
■ Etiquette
Investors told to behave
A Singapore investors association is leading a campaign to get shareholders to behave better at annual meetings following reports of gluttony and aggression in the usually non-confrontational city-state. "Shareholders should refrain from being antagonistic, belligerent or insulting," the Securities Investors Association of Singapore said in a new 26-page investor etiquette guide that goes on sale next week. "If food is provided, it is common courtesy to refrain from rushing for it, leaving the meeting midway to consume it, [or] consuming excessive amounts of food ... without the invitation of the company," the S$2 (US$1.20) guide advises. At a meeting late last year in Singapore, the chairman of Singapore Exchange -- Southeast Asia's biggest bourse -- was seen banging his gavel repeatedly and threatening to evict a shareholder who had been asking questions which he deemed irrelevant.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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