■ Energy
Mitsubishi goes nuclear
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has offered to buy US nuclear-reactor maker Westinghouse, moving in on a company that 40 years ago provided the Japanese machinery maker with its technology, a Mitsubishi official said. Mitsubishi Heavy told British company BNFL, which owns Westinghouse Electric Co, on Friday that it wants to buy the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company, according to spokesman Hideo Ikuno. Mitsubishi is still working on details of a bid including how much it will propose to pay and if it should form a partnership with other companies in the bidding, he said. The business daily Nihon Keizai newspaper said on Saturday that the two sides are aiming at concluding a deal -- estimated at ¥200 billion (US$1.79 billion) -- later this year.
■ Aviation
Jetstar, Valuair cut talks
Singapore's low-cost carriers Jetstar Asia and Valuair Ltd said yesterday they have called off possible merger talks -- in what would have been the first consolidation in Asia's cutthroat budget airline industry. "In the airline industry, you can grow organically or through acquisitions. The Valuair opportunity gave us the chance to do both at the same time," Jetstar chief executive Ken Ryan said in a statement. "It would have been good if we were able to reach agreement, but the fact that we didn't doesn't impact our ongoing business expansion." It was not immediately clear why the airlines were considering integration but analysts have said carriers are suffering because of soaring jet fuel prices, now well above US$60 a barrel.
■ The Philippines
Debt rating cut to negative
The Philippines' debt-rating outlook was cut to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings, which cited political concerns and a court freeze on increases in the size and scope of the nation's sales tax. The cut comes 46 days after the outlook was raised and suggests Fitch is more inclined to lower the Philippines' long-term foreign-currency rating of BB and local-currency rating of BB+. Both ratings are junk grade. "The outlook reflects both the heightened political uncertainty in the Philippines and the challenges in the Supreme Court to the expanded value-added-tax," Fitch said in a statement yesterday. The government said the move, which comes 46 days after Fitch raised its rating outlook, wouldn't affect its overseas borrowing plans.
■ Photography
Kodak makes digital chip
Eastman Kodak Co, the world's largest photography company, said it has developed along with International Business Machines Corp (IBM) computer chips that improve the images of lower-priced digital cameras and cellphones. The new sensors, which convert light into electric signals, are derived from complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, technology. They close the gap between CMOS sensors used in mass-market cameras and higher-quality charge-coupled devices. Kodak hopes designers and manufacturers of cellphones and mass-market cameras will build the new chips into their products. To make that feasible, Kodak announced on Friday that it has formed an alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips.
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