■ Toys
Bandai, Namco join forces
Toy maker Bandai Co and game manufacturer Namco Ltd said yesterday they will set up a joint holding company to create Japan's second largest toy-game business group amid escalating industrywide competition. A new umbrella company, Namco Bandai Holdings Inc, will be established in September, the companies said in a statement. The merger will bring their combined sales to ¥450 billion (US$4.28 billion), second only to Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. Bandai president Takeo Takasu will become the holding company's president, while Namco vice chairman Kyushiro Takagi will become chairman, the companies said. Combining Bandai's character merchandising capability and Namco's game development know-how would allow the two companies to stay competitive in the global market, they said. Bandai, the nation's leading toy maker, is known for the "Tamagotchi" virtual pet, while Namco is a major developer of home video games, including PacMan.
■ Automakers
SAIC to build own `Rover'
Shanghai Auto, a unit of China's largest automaker, plans to produce its own branded cars, probably based on the Rover 75, by the first quarter of 2007 in a move which will put it in competition with current partners General Motors and Volkswagen, a press report said yesterday. Zhao Fenggao, general manager at Shanghai Automotive Co (SAC), the listed unit owned by Shanghai Auto Industry Corp (SAIC), said production would be based at a plant in Yizheng, in eastern Jiangsu Province, the South China Morning Post reported. Industry sources told the newspaper that the car would be based on the Rover 75 chassis with a new exterior. In November last year, SAIC paid £67 million (US$127.7 million) to British firm MG Rover for the right to manufacture the Rover 75 and Rover 25. The Rover 75, which was first produced for the UK market in June 1999, was MG Rover's best-known model and a key reason why SAIC was interested in buying the company.
■ Internet
EU spending set to double
European spending on Internet online consumer products such as music, videos and games is set to double this year, thanks to the spread of broadband access, a recent study says. According to the Frankfurt-based European Information Technology Observatory, revenues should reach 3 billion euros (US$3.87 billion) this year, rising to 16 billion euros in 2008. By then consumer online revenues are expected to exceed business-segment revenues. Spending on videos is expected to reach a billion euros this year, with revenues from games not far behind. Online music is another growth area.
■ Automobiles
Kids safest in back seat
Children are safer in car crashes when they sit in the back seat, and are less likely to be injured when safety seats and seat belts are used, a new study emphasized. "The single most important lifesaving decision parents can make for their child is to use the rear seat and age and size-appropriate restraints during every car ride, every time," said Dr Flaura Winston, a pediatrician and chief investigator of the study, which was released yesterday. The study notes that almost a third of the nearly 1,800 children who died in car crashes in 2003 in the US were riding in the front seat and more than half weren't restrained.
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