■ Inflation
China's key index slows
Growth in China's main indicator for inflation slowed to 4.3 percent year-on-year last month, significantly lower than the 5.2 percent year-on-year increase the month before, the government reported yesterday. The slowing in the consumer price index defied a nearly nine-year high in the producer price index, which jumped 8.4 percent year-on-year last month. The producer price index, which measures the cost of goods used in production, is considered a leading indicator of future trends for consumer prices. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 4.1 percent over a year earlier in the January-October period. Officials have forecast that the index will rise 3 percent year-on-year for all of 2004.
■ Video games
Nintendo DS big in Japan
Japanese orders are coming in strong for Nintendo Co's new portable video game machine, with the company reporting more than 2 million local orders in just a week, the company said yesterday. Nintendo DS, which stands for "dual screen," is set to go on sale on Nov. 21 in the US and Dec. 2 in Japan. Kyoto-based Nintendo, which makes Super Mario and Pokemon games, had initially expected Japanese orders to run at about 1 million. The company reported more than 2 million orders since it began accepting them last week. Nintendo is setting up its third plant in China to boost production, and is also planning to ship 1 million Nintendo DS machines to North America this year. The company said it expects to ship 4 million Nintendo DS machines by the end of the fiscal year on March 31 next year.
■ Price fixing
Micron strikes deal with US
Micron Technology Inc, the world's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips, struck a deal with the US Department of Justice to shield it from sanctions after a probe found that some employees engaged in price fixing. The probe found collusion by Micron and rival chipmakers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a market forecast to grow 49 percent to US$26 billion this year, Boise, Idaho-based Micron said in an e-mailed statement. Micron said it won't be subject to criminal sanctions or fines under the deal. The US in 2002 began investiga-ting whether Micron conspired to fix prices with Infineon Technologies AG and other makers of the chips that provide the main memory in personal computers, in a probe Gartner Inc estimates may cost the industry US$2.2 billion in fines. Munich-based Infineon set aside 212 million euros (US$274 million) to cover the cost of settling with the Justice Department. Infineon said it will pay a US$160 million fine for its part in the conspiracy.
■ Video rentals
Blockbuster bids for rival
Blockbuster, the leading US video rental chain, made a bid on Thursday to swallow rival Hollywood Entertain-ment, spotlighting the sector facing tough times due to emerging technology. The company just spun off by Viacom unveiled an offer to acquire Hollywood Entertainment for US$1 billion, including debt. Blockbuster said it would offer US$11.50 a share for Hollywood Entertainment, a 17 percent premium over Hollywood's closing price on Wednesday. The video rental business has lost much of its luster in recent years. Forrester, a research company, has essentially predicted that the industry could be vulnerable to video-on-demand services.
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