■ Video Games
Big Xbox debut predicted
Microsoft Corp expects to sell up to 3 million of its new Xbox video-game consoles within 90 days of the product's launch, an executive said on Tuesday. Bryan Lee, chief financial officer with Microsoft's Home and Entertainment unit, told investors and analysts at the Harris Nesbitt Media and Entertainment Conference in New York that Microsoft aims to sell 2.75 million to 3 million consoles worldwide within 90 days of its debut in North America. The North American debut on Nov. 22 will be followed by a Dec. 2 launch in Europe and a Dec. 10 launch in Japan. Lee also said he expects consumers to spend US$1.5 billion in the first 90 days after the Xbox 360's launch on the console and peripherals such as games and subscriptions to its Xbox Live online gameplay service. In North America, the company will charge US$399.99 for the Xbox 360, and US$299.99 for a scaled-back version.
■ Airline industry
Airbus placates customers
Airbus will reassure customers such as Singapore Airlines (SIA) that are concerned with delivery delays of the world's biggest long-haul jet, a top executive said in a report published yesterday. Noel Forgeard, chief executive officer of the European aerospace and defense giant EADS, told the Business Times he is in the city-state to reassure SIA of a "total company commitment" to deliver the first A380 super jet in November next year. SIA was due to receive the first A380 in July next year. It will now get its first aircraft in November and another in December next year as part of a US$8.6 billion order for 10 planes. EADS hit snags in making the A380 and will be unable to meet original delivery deadlines, causing customers to seek compensation. A test flight, initially scheduled to touch down in Singapore on Tuesday, is now set to arrive tomorrow. It was delayed because the aircraft's engines had to be replaced.
■ Automakers
Toyota taps into Fuji Heavy
Japan's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, plans to outsource the redevelopment of one of its existing models to its new partner Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, a report said yesterday. Toyota will tap the development capacity of Fuji Heavy -- of which Toyota became top shareholder last month when it purchased a stake from General Motors Corp -- to cover personnel shortages caused by its business expansion, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing its sources. The report did not say which model was to be redesigned, but said it would hit the market in two to three years and was likely to be a sporty subcompact -- an area where Fuji Heavy has development expertise.
■ Airline industry
Boeing plans record flight
Boeing Co plans to break the record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial jet -- a 20,300km trip that is to begin in Hong Kong, fly over North America and land in London, the company said yesterday. "We plan to smash the current record," said Captain Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann, one of four pilots who is flying the Boeing 777-200LR. The flight, which was to take off later yesterday, will take about 23 hours, a Boeing statement said. The plane will have 35 passengers, including Boeing representatives, journalists and customers. The jet plans to fly farther than a Boeing 747-400 that flew 17,039km from London to Sydney in 1989, the company 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