■ IT
HP targets HDTV users
Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's No. 2 personal-computer maker, will offer high-definition televisions and a "media hub" that connects to consumer electronics as part of an effort to boost sales to home users. "We're going to have very cool high-definition television sets," Shane Robison, Hewlett-Packard's chief strategy and technology officer, said in a speech at an Internet conference in Aspen, Colorado. For the hub device, "content will flow through from any service you can imagine," including cable, satellite, Internet and telephone, Robison said. "We'll have storage complexes, interfaces to the PC, music appliances and new PCs that are media-capable," Robison said.
■ Airlines
SA works with Qantas
Singapore Airlines said Monday it has discussed limited cooperation with rival Qantas Airways to ease the two carriers' deployment of the Airbus A380, the giant passenger jet due to take to the skies in 2006. If it materializes, the move would represent a rare cooperative step for the two carriers, who are more used to competing head-to-head for passenger traffic and bickering over aviation route access. Qantas Airways' major shareholder, British Airways, is also one of Singapore Airlines' competitors. "We have had discussions with Qantas about cooperation in noncommercial areas like engineering and training with regards to the A380," a Singapore Airlines spokesman said in an e-mail response to a Dow Jones Newswires query. It is believed that such a deal could help both parties to lower the costs they incur to get their staff ready to fly the planes, and maintain them once they are in the air.
■ Fast Food
Burger King plans IPO
US fast food chain Burger King plans to go public in the next two years, the group's European chief Pascal Le Pellec said in a newspaper interview published Monday. "Burger King will probably list on the stock exchange in the next two years," Le Pellec told the Financial Times Deutschland. Le Pellec, head of Burger King's German operations, also took over the running of the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese activities in February. "The better the company is doing, the more interesting a flotation would be for the group's owners," Le Pellec said. Burger King's recently appointed chief Greg Brennemann has also mulled the idea of the group going public, but not yet given any timetable for such a move. Burger King is the world's second-biggest hamburger chain. It operates 11,200 in 60 countries worldwide and last year booked revenues of US$11.1 billion.
■ Airlines
Virgin adds fuel surcharge
Australian airline Virgin Blue announced Monday it was sharply increasing a fuel surcharge imposed in May to compensate for rising world oil prices. The surcharge on domestic flights would increase to A$10 (US$7.22) per sector from six dollars per sector, it said. On international flights the surcharge was doubled to US$20 from US$10. The move takes effect on Thursday. It follows a similar move by rival Qantas last week. In a statement, Virgin Blue said it would also suspend services on its Sydney-Canberra routes from Sept. 4 because of unsustainable loads on the route. The aircraft will be redirected to service the Tasmania market.
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