■ SEMICONDUCTORS
Ex-Infineon chief probed
Munich prosecutors have widened their investigation into corruption at chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG to include the company's former head, Ulrich Schumacher, a spokesman said on Saturday. Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors, confirmed that Schumacher was under investigation. But he declined to comment on a report in the German weekly Focus that the investigation centered on Schumacher's purchases of collectable automobiles from the head of a Swiss consultancy, who offered them to Schumacher at below market prices in return for contracts with the Munich-based chipmaker. Ralf-Udo Schneider, the president of Swiss BF Consulting AG, was arrested in Switzerland last month in connection with the probe after he was implicated in the scandal.
■ BANKING
Corruption cases rising
China uncovered 240 cases of corruption in its state-owned commercial banks in the first half of the year, with losses totalling 1.6 billion yuan (US$198 million), state media said yesterday. The Xinhua news agency, citing a State Banking Regulatory Commission official, said the money stolen from commercial banks amounted to about half of the country's total sum loss to bank embezzlement. About 25 percent of the 240 cases involved more than 1 million yuan each, Xinhua said. Shen Xiaoming (沈曉明), deputy director of the commission's supervision department, attributed the large number of scandals to bank reforms and improved government efforts to crack down on financial crimes. The past year has seen an increase in the number of arrests and trials on corruption charges of bank officials, from branch managers to the vice chairman of the state-run Bank of China (中國銀行) in Hong Kong.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Proton eyes German models
Malaysia's biggest carmaker Proton Holdings is mulling the purchase of two of Volkswagen's platforms, a report said yesterday. The Edge financial newspaper quoted a Proton official as saying that the company was interested in the Passat and Sharan platforms, both of which achieved international success a few years ago. The Sharan is a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle while the Passat is a saloon model. The source declined to reveal how much Proton would pay for the platforms. But one industry analyst said buying the two platforms would not address Proton's problem of quickly producing new models, as design and development work could still take a year or two.
■ TAXES
Hikes inevitable in Japan
An increase in Japan's 5 percent sales tax will be "unavoidable" for whoever succeeds Junichiro Koizumi as the country's next prime minister, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said yesterday. "Facing the issue of increasing the sales tax will be unavoidable" for Koizumi's successor, Tanigaki said on TV Asahi's Sunday Project program. ``We can't get away from it." Koizumi has said he won't raise the tax on consumers while he is prime minister. Japan needs to bolster tax revenue to help it slow a rise in public debt, which according to the finance ministry will rise to 151 percent of GDP by March 31, the highest among the world's major industrialized nations. Japan also faces a fall in the number of tax payers as more people retire and the population declines. Japan relies on sales of government debt to cover shortfalls in tax revenue, Tanigaki 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