■ Oil
Exxon unloads Sinopec
Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest US oil company, sold its stake in China's largest refiner and petrochemical producer for about US$1.37 billion, the company said in a filing on Tuesday. Exxon Mobil said it placed the 3.17 billion H shares of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec Corp., for sale through Merrill Lynch at HK$3.38 (US$0.433) each. Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Lauren Kerr said the company had owned 19 percent of Sinopec's H shares, which are traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange, but only 3.7 percent of the company's total equity. Exxon Mobil said it paid about HK$1.61 (US$0.206) each for those H shares when 20 percent of Sinopec was sold on international markets in 2000.
■ Internet
Yahoo renames Overture
Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. said on Tuesday that it is stamping its well-known brand on Overture Services, an online advertising pioneer that it bought for US$1.7 billion nearly 17 months ago. Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said it is renaming Overture as Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions in the US and most international markets. The change, to be made early in the second quarter, is part of an overhaul designed to make it easier to find Yahoo's different advertising options. Yahoo plans to retain Overture's name in Japan and Korea. The name change won't affect how Overture's service works. Overture's popularity helped boost Yahoo's sales last year to US$3.6 billion, more than doubling revenue from the previous year.
■ Automobiles
Mitsubishi soothes US
Scandal-plagued Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has no plans to sell its plant in the US or further trim its workforce there and remains committed to the US market, which is critical for the company's turnaround, its new president said yesterday. Osamu Masuko, appointed a month ago as president and chief operating officer, said production capacity at the plant in Normal, Illinois was reduced by about half last year to 125,000 or 130,000 vehicles a year to boost profitability. No more job cuts are planned in the US, Masuko told a small group of reporters at Tokyo headquarters. Mitsubishi trimmed its plant workers last year from about 1,900 to about 900 today, according to the automaker. A spate of recall cover-up scandals that surfaced five years ago has taken its toll on Mitsubishi, which is expecting a loss of
¥472 billion (US$4.5 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31 as it struggles to revive plunging sales.
■ Computers
Rambus case dismissed
Rambus Inc.'s patent-infringement claims against memory-chip maker Infineon Technologies AG were dismissed after a federal judge found Rambus destroyed documents in anticipation of the case. Los Altos, California-based Rambus, which designed a chip interface to speed computer memory, claimed Infineon used its patented technology for its DDR DRAM memory chips without a license. Infineon denied the allegations and, in a motion, claimed Rambus destroyed key documents related to the pending litigation. On Tuesday, US District Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, Virginia, agreed with Infineon. Rambus stood to gain millions of dollars if it had prevailed. "We are gratified that the Court determined that Rambus' litigation misconduct should not be rewarded," Infineon said.
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