■ Electronics
Global sourcing increases
The world's top electronics firms plan to source more than 20 percent of their components from overseas providers, primarily in Asia, a study said yesterday. Conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and Agilent Technologies, the study polled 70 executives and found global sourcing of components is becoming a strategic business process. "The next stage of the sourcing process will force companies to share demand forecasts, production schedules, distribution plans and intellectual property," the study said. "This is sensitive information that has tended to be tightly controlled within organizations," it added. Half the respondents worked at companies with more than US$500 million in annual revenue and the other half at companies with less.
■ Beverages
Coca-Cola, EU to settle
The EU was ready to announce a settlement yesterday of its long-running antitrust case against The Coca-Cola Co after the beverage giant agreed to modify its sales practices in Europe, according to sources close to the talks in Brussels, Belgium. EU regulators are planning to use a new legal tool at their disposal, a so-called settlement decision, which makes the commitments the company agrees to more binding and enforceable in national courts, the sources said. The deal would allow Coke to avoid a fine and potentially years of legal wrangling. It would likely take effect next spring, after being translated into all EU languages and published in the EU's official journal, the sources said.
■ Oil
Crude prices retreat in Asia
Crude oil prices fell in Asian trade yesterday, retreating further below the milestone US$55 per barrel mark but apparently unable to go below US$53 amid lingering supply worries as saboteurs in Iraq attacked a key pipeline. Crude for November delivery was trading at US$53.37 at mid-afternoon in Asia on the New York Mercantile Exchange's online dealing system, down US$0.30 from Monday's final price in New York. December Brent crude futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange were trading at US$48.60 per barrel at mid-afternoon after surging past US$50 last week. Crude hit a record US$55.33 in Asian trading on Monday but has given up about US$2 since then, as analysts tried to gauge whether it was just taking a breather from its recent sharp run-up. Although prices are up about 75 percent from a year ago, they are still about US$27 below the all-time highs, in inflation-adjusted terms, of February 1981.
■ Electronics
LG's profit up 36 percent
South Korea's LG Electronics said yesterday its net profit jumped 36 percent year-on-year to more than US$260 million in the third quarter to September thanks to brisk exports. Stronger overseas demand for mobile handsets and higher-end commercial electronics goods boosted profits to 304.4 billion won (US$265 million), LG Electronics said. Sales rose 24 percent year-on-year to 6.11 trillion won with operating profit increasing 91 percent to 355.4 billion won in the July-September period, beating market expectations, it said. LG Electronics said it expects sales this year to reach as much as 24 trillion won, up about 15 percent from last year.
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
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
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