■ APEC meeting
Oil and China top agenda
The rising cost of crude oil and the recent surge in the Chinese economy will be among the major topics at at the upcoming meeting of finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Chile, Japan's Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said yesterday. "I believe APEC ministers have interests in how high oil prices would affect the regional economy," Tanigaki told at a Tokyo press conference. The Japanese finance minister had said earlier that the Japanese economy will not be affected by the surges of oil prices as much as Asia's developing countries whose economies may be weakened by the rise. According to a projection by the Asian Development Bank, if crude oil prices stayed at US$40 a barrel throughout 2004, it would bring down gross domestic product for Asia's developing countries by an average 0.6 points.
■ CEO compensation
Outsourcing lifts pay
Chief executives of US companies that outsourced the greatest number of jobs reaped bigger pay and benefits last year, according to a new study of executive compensation being released yesterday. Average CEO compensation at the 50 companies outsourcing the most service jobs rose by 46 percent in 2003 from a year earlier, compared with a 9 percent increase for CEOs at 365 big companies overall, the study by the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy found. The two groups' annual "Executive Excess" report said average CEO pay at the "top 50" outsourcing companies was US$10.4 million last year, compared with US$8.1 million for the 365 companies.
■ LCD displays
Matsushita joins with rivals
Japanese high-tech giant Matsushita Electric Industrial said yesterday it has agreed with rivals Hitachi and Toshiba to jointly produce large liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for fast-selling flat-screen televisions. "We have agreed [with Hitachi and Toshiba] on that and will announce it later today," said Mitsuru Ishii, a spokeswoman for Matsushita. She declined to confirm details reported by the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Under the agreement, the three firms would jointly build a plant at the site of an Hitachi LCD subsidiary in Chiba, east of Tokyo, with operations scheduled to start in 2006, the business daily said yesterday. Of total investment estimated at ¥100 billion (US$920 million), Hitachi is expected to put up around 50 percent, with the rest to be divided between Matsushita and Toshiba, the daily said.
■ Investigation
Sharp a suspect in bid scam
Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC), yesterday raided the Tokyo office of major consumer electronics maker Sharp and about 10 other firms in a probe into alleged bid-rigging, an FTC official said. Sharp and the other firms are suspected of conspiring in bids for highway electronic information board orders from the government and public corporation Japan Highway Public Corp. "The companies allegedly fixed the winners of bidding [among themselves] beforehand. We will investigate how long it has been going on," the official from the FTC, an anti-monopoly watchdog, said. The electronic boards display traffic and weather information.
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