■ FINANCE
HK tops for cash in Asia
Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong find it easier to raise funds for their businesses than their counterparts elsewhere in Asia but trail the UK for first place overall, a survey said yesterday. Singapore emerged third this year, down a notch from last year in the Milken Institute Capital Access Index. Britain jumped from third to first due partly to the exceptional performance of its equities market last year. This year's index ranked 121 countries and territories according to the ability of entrepreneurs to finance their activities. The index is based on evaluations of performance in six categories, including equity market development, macroeconomic environment and financial and banking institutions. "Singapore has done considerably well in providing access to capital for entrepreneurs," the Straits Times quoted James Barth, senior fellow at the Milken Institute as saying.
■ INTERNET
Google expands mapping
Google Inc was to introduce software yesterday designed to make its local search and mapping service easier to navigate on mobile phones, continuing the Internet search engine leader's effort to extend its reach beyond personal computers. Consumers who download and install the new software will be able to skip some of the steps that had been required since Google began offering a mobile version of its maps nearly seven months ago. For instance, users won't have to type in their location before getting directions to a specific location, as long as their phone has Global Positioning System, or GPS, capabilities, said Deep Nishar, a director of Google's mobile products. Google has been exploring ways to pinpoint the location of its users in order to better target ads from nearby merchants. But Nishar said that goal isn't driving the mobile upgrade: Google doesn't plan to display ads alongside its mobile maps.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Subaru maker to cut jobs
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, the maker of Subaru cars, plans to cut 5 percent of its work force by March in an effort to rein in costs after a tie up with Toyota Motor Corp, a news report said yesterday. Tokyo-based Fuji Heavy will target 700 job cuts through a voluntary retirement program starting this month, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported, without saying how it obtained the information. The cuts are expected to save the automaker ?5 billion (US$43.5 million) a year, the report said. Officials at Fuji Heavy were unavailable for comment yesterday. Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's top automaker, agreed last month to buy an 8.7 percent stake in Fuji Heavy from General Motors Corp for about US$315 million.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Fiat, Ford sign MOU
Fiat SpA and Ford Motor Co said yesterday that they had signed an agreement to collaborate on small cars, concluding a preliminary project to co-develop new models due in 2007 and 2008. The platform Fiat used for its successful Panda car will be used for the two new models: a revival of Fiat's iconic "Cinquecento" and a new Ford "Ka," which will be made at Fiat's factory in Poland, the companies said. Last month Fiat announced it had signed a "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) with Ford to work with the US carmaker on the two models. Fiat and Ford said that their new cars would be unveiled in 2007 and 2008 and that they expected to make 240,000 annual units, split equally between them.
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