■ Games
Console's US debut on hold
Sony Corp, the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, will delay US sales of its combination PSX game console and DVD recorder to next year from the end of this year because the device may not appeal to US consumers. Sony, which gained about two-thirds of its operating profit from games business in the year ended March 31, will debut the PSX "some time next year," said Dick Komiyama, head of the electronics unit. Sony earlier delayed the US release of its PlayStation Portable from the end of this year. No schedule for beginning sales of the PSX in Europe has been set, a company spokesman said.
■ Consumer Goods
Sony tops brands list
Sony ranked at the top of a list of "best brands" among US consumers for the fifth straight year, a survey showed on Thursday. The survey saw Coca Cola moving up to the N0.2 spot from seventh place last year. Computer maker Dell retained its No. 3 position while Kraft moved to No. 4. Not in the top 10 since 2001, Toyota placed fifth among brands, based on a survey of some 2,100 US consumers. Rounding out the list were automaker Ford, in sixth place, followed by Honda, Procter and Gamble, General Electric and General Motors. Dropping out of the top 10 were Microsoft, ranked fifth last year; Kellogg's and Pepsi-Cola, ranked ninth and tenth, respectively, in last year's survey.
■ Automobiles
More Mitsubishi closings
Mitsubishi Motors Corp said yesterday it wants to close one of its car-assembly plants in Japan by the end of next year to speed up cost cuts as the money-losing automaker battles a major scandal over defect cover-ups. The company had announced earlier this year that it will close its Okazaki plant within the next four years as part of an overhaul of its operations. Earlier this week the company told its labor union of a plan to start sending the 1,600 workers at the Okazaki plant from next July to other Mitsubishi sites to shutter the plant by the end of next year, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The union will reply to the proposal by the end of this month, he said.
■ Telecoms
Sprint, IBM ink support deal
Sprint Corp and Interna-tional Business Machines Corp have agreed to a five-year, US$400 million deal under which IBM will provide information- technology (IT) develop-ment and support to Sprint. Under the agreement announced on Thursday, about 1,000 Sprint IT jobs will be transferred to IBM, whose global services unit will support certain Sprint software systems. Sprint expects the deal to help it meet a goal of cutting costs by more than US$1 billion over the next two years. Sprint employs about 70,000, including about 20,000 in the Kansas City area. It has cut employment by more than 22,000 over the last two years.
■ Crime
Stewart loses new trial bid
A US federal judge on Thursday rejected a second request from Martha Stewart for a new trial, brushing aside allegations that a government ink expert lied on the stand. The judge said there was "no reasonable likelihood that this perjury could have affected the jury's verdict." The judge added that "overwhelming independent evidence" supports the guilty verdict.
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