■ Microchips
Intel plans Vietnam plant
Intel Corp has asked the Vietnamese government for a license to build a chip plant worth US$605 million in southern Ho Chi Minh City, a government official said yesterday. "Intel applied for licensing with the Ministry of Planning and Investment on Wednesday. We expect that all the administrative procedures will end soon as this is a huge project for Vietnam's information and technology sector," a ministry official said. Under Vietnamese regulations, the project needs authorization from several ministries before being submitted to the prime minister for a final approval. Intel officials declined any immediate comment. According to the daily Tuoi Tre newspaper, the plant will cover 46.7 hectares and employ 2,000 local workers.
■ Stock trading
Slip-up blamed on human
Nikko Citigroup yesterday blamed human error for a mistaken buy order for shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, heightening concerns about stock trading here following computer glitches and a botched trade in recent months. Nikko Citigroup Ltd, a joint venture between US financial giant Citigroup Inc and Japanese brokerage Nikko Cordial Corp, placed a buy order on Wednesday for 2,000 Nippon Paper shares instead of two shares.
■ Electronics
Toshiba ready with HD DVD
Toshiba Corp said yesterday that it will start selling high-definition players supporting its HD DVD format, jointly developed by another Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp, in the US in March -- the first commercial launch of the product in the world. The new HD DVD players -- HD-XA1 and HD-A1, priced at US$799 and US$499 respectively -- will hit the US market about the time major Hollywood studios are expected to unveil HD DVD movie titles, the company said.
■ Real estate
HK offices most expensive
Hong Kong office space is the Asia-Pacific region's most expensive, followed by Tokyo and Seoul, a survey released yesterday said. DTZ, a London-listed international real-estate advisory and consultancy firm, made the findings in its annual global office occupancy costs survey of 117 business districts around the world. The rankings focus on cost per workstation, which DTZ said better reflects the cost of accommodation. Hong Kong occupancy costs were up 61 percent, the highest percentage increase over the past decade, to US$15,000 per workstation per year, DTZ said. Behind Hong Kong, Tokyo's Central 5 wards and Seoul ranked as second and third-most expensive office locations, at US$11,870 and US$9,870 per workstation per year, it said.
■ Banking
US fines ABN Amro again
Dutch bank ABN Amro was hit on Wednesday with its second US fine in two months after settling a government probe into its mortgage lending in the industrial state of Michigan. The US Department of Justice said that under the settlement, the bank's subsidiary ABN Amro Mortgage Group had agreed to pay a total of US$41 million in cash and waived claims for government insurance payouts. The government alleged that ABN certified falsely that it had properly underwritten 28,097 mortgage loans that were federally insured by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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
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
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
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