■ Electronics
Philips making China move
The electronics giant Philips said on Tuesday that it plans to move the production of semiconductors from its northern Dutch plant in Stadskanaal to China before the end of next year. The relocation will result in the loss of 250 jobs, Philips said. "We want a phased relocation so that a good employee plan can help staff find a new job in the region," said site director John Nizet. He did not rule out layoffs, however.
■ Cable TV
Motorola to buy DVN stake
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of mobile phones, agreed to pay as much as US$33 million for a stake in DVN (Holdings) Ltd, a Hong Kong maker of set-top boxes and cable-television equipment. Motorola agreed to buy new DVN shares at no more than HK$1 each and use DVN as a distributor of its broadband equipment to Chinese cable televisions operators, Hong Kong-based DVN said in a statement. Shares of DVN shares have halted trading since April 22, and were last traded at HK$2.15 in Hong Kong. Based on the HK$1 purchase price, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola will buy 234 million DVN shares, or a 34 percent stake.
■ Japan's Economy
Corporate failures decline
The number of Japanese corporate failures in April fell 21.5 percent from a year earlier, marking 16 consecutive months of year-on-year declines as the Japanese economic recovery continues. Business failures in the month totalled 1,189, Teikoku Databank said in a monthly report. They left liabilities worth ¥611.9 billion (US$5.4 billion), a decline of 32.2 percent from a year ago and the first total below the ¥1 trillion mark in three months, the report said. The research firm attributed the fall to public help for small- and medium-sized businesses and fewer payment defaults.
■ Patents
LG sues Whirlpool
South Korea's top home appliance maker, LG Electronics Inc, has sued US rival Whirlpool Corp for allegedly violating LG's washing machine patents, LG said yesterday. LG Electronics filed for compensation in a court in the US state of New Jersey, accusing Whirlpool of violating its patents, including one for a technology that helps prevent clothes from being twisted together inside the washing machine, the company said. LG did not give further details, including how much it was seeking from Whirlpool. In a statement, Whirlpool spokesman Tom Kline said the company had not yet seen the suit.
■ DVD formats
Sony group seeks members
The Sony Corp-led group, which is proposing to replace existing DVD standards with its Blu-ray disc, has invited movie studios and companies from other industries to become members to help speed up the format's adoption. The 13-member Blu-ray Disc Founders, mainly made up of computer and consumer electronics manufacturers such as Dell Inc and Panasonic-brand maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, will be renamed the Blu-ray Disc Association, the group said in e-mailed statement. Walt Disney Co and Microsoft Corp said in February they will join a separate industry group, the DVD Forum in Tokyo. The DVD Forum has not yet decided whether to adopt Sony's Blu-ray disc or the HD DVD format recommended by Toshiba Corp.
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
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
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