■ Electronics
China forecasts PC output
China expects to produce 98 million desktop and laptop computers in this year, mostly for overseas markets, state media reported yesterday. Of the output forecast for this year, China aims to export 58 million computers, or 59 percent of the total, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the Ministry of Information Industry. However, huge Chinese exports have forced computer makers to cut their prices to remain competitive. The average export price for a desktop last year stood at US$617, down from US$644 at the end of 2004, Xinhua said, citing the ministry. The Chinese computer industry's foray overseas is led by the nation's largest computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), which stunned the world when it bought US icon IBM Corp's personal computing division last year.
■ Banking
Money-laundering rises
Japanese banks reported a 3.7 percent increase in the number of suspected money laundering cases last year to a record high of 98,935 transactions, a news report said yesterday. The increase comes as regulators worldwide try to track trails of illicit funds to militant groups such as al-Qaeda. The US has blacklisted several North Korean companies it accuses of involvement in illicit financial activities. Banks accounted for about 86 percent of the cases reported last year in Japan, followed by 7 percent for other financial institutions such as credit cooperatives, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported, without citing a source. Financial institutions are required by Japan's Financial Services Agency to report transactions that may have been used to finance drug deals or offenses by criminal gangs or terrorists, the Nihon Keizai said.
■ Investment
Japan seeks foreign capital
Japan's government, which previously saw foreign capital as a threat, now hopes to double the amount of direct foreign investment in Japan by the end of 2010 in an attempt to boost the economy and create new jobs, a newspaper said yesterday. A panel on foreign investment will draft new measures to encourage investment, including an overhaul of taxes, in June, the national Yomiuri newspaper said, citing sources it didn't identify. Foreign investment is expected to reach ?13.2 trillion (US$112.8 billion), or about 2.5 percent of Japan's GDP, at the end of this year, the newspaper said. The government wants to boost that figure to ?30 trillion, or 5 percent of GDP, by the end of 2010, it said.
■ Semiconductors
Intel, Micron plan flash JV
US chipmakers Intel Corp and Micron Technology Inc plan to invest in a new plant that will make flash memory chips, used in popular gadgets such as MP3 players and digital cameras, an Intel official said. Their new joint venture, called IM Flash Technologies, aims to take on market leaders Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea and Toshiba Corp of Japan, said Brian Harrison, vice president of Intel's Flash Memory Group. Intel hasn't decided where the new facility will be based, and Asia hasn't been ruled out, Harrison said in a recent telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires. NAND-type flash chips will ramp up production by late 2008 or early 2009, Harrison said. Capacity will also be boosted at three existing facilities through 2007, he added. Last November, Intel and Micron announced formation of a joint venture to take advantage of strong market demand for NAND flash 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