■ Banking
UFJ bankers sentenced
Three former executives of a major Japanese bank received suspended sentences yesterday in a scandal centered around hiding information about mounting bad debts from government inspectors. Former UFJ Bank Vice President Kazuyoshi Okazaki was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years, and two other former executives, Sen Hayakawa and Masayuki Inaba, were each sentenced to eight months, suspended for three years, by the Tokyo District Court, a court official said on customary condition of anonymity. UFJ Bank also was ordered to pay ?90 million (US$854,000) as a penalty, the court said. Authorities say the executives lied, hid documents about corporate borrowers and transferred thousands of electronic files between August and October 2003 to try to obstruct an inspection by financial regulators into the bank's debts.
■ Economy
Arroyo urges higher taxes
President Gloria Arroyo told the Philippines on Thursday to "bite the bullet" of higher electricity tariffs and potentially higher taxes saying they were preferable to the "nightmare" of an economic meltdown. Regulators on Friday authorized the debt-stricken state utility National Power Corp (Napocor) to raise its basic rates by an average 5.56 centavos per kilowatt-hour, on top of a 98-centavo raise granted in September. The utility said the rate increase of 1.04 pesos (US$0.19), which was still less than the 1.87-pesos adjustment it sought, would reflect on monthly billings from the middle of this year. "We have to bite the bullet to gain a better economic footing through the VAT bill and the Napocor rate hike," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement. "Our worst nightmare would come from failure to act to protect the public interest in the long run. If we lose market confidence, we will lose the strength to [attract] investment which will create the jobs and livelihood opportunities."
■ Internet
Google changes ads
Hoping to boost its already rapidly rising profits, online search engine leader Google Inc is offering to place ads on specific Web sites instead of distributing them throughout its marketing network. The Mountain View, California-based company is hoping the approach, announced yesterday on a test basis, appeals to advertisers who are particular about where their brand appears or are aiming for a certain demographic. Google makes most of its money by placing text-based advertising links on its own home page and thousands of other Web sites in its marketing network. Last year, Google also started distributing banner ads to other sites. Until now, the participating advertisers had no control over where their commercial links or banner ads appeared.
■ Internet
Carrier gives up `WiBro'
South Korea's second-largest Internet broadband carrier, Hanarotelecom, said yesterday it would give up its license for new wireless Internet services. Hanarote-lecom, SK Telecom and KT Corp were allowed to provide services of the new technology, dubbed "WiBro," from next year that would allow broadband Internet access through mobile phones and other portable devices. However, Hanarotelecom, now controlled by US investors, said its board agreed to give up the WiBro service and focus instead on its broadband Internet business.
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