■ Computers
Dell hiring in China
Dell Inc, the world's biggest personal computer maker, said it plans to add 200 employees to a three-year-old design center in Shanghai, part of plans to expand in China. The expansion will "enhance our global product innovation" and "support our business growth in China and around the world," chairman Michael Dell said yesterday in a statement distributed before a press conference in Shanghai. Dell didn't say how many employees the center has at present. Dell bought US$16 billion of components and products in China last year and its shipments in the nation rose 28 percent in the most recent quarter, the statement said, without giving the volume of shipments or saying whether the increase was on a quarterly or annual basis.
■ Computers
NEC unit inflated sales
NEC Corp, Japan's largest maker of personal computers, said its NEC Engineering Ltd subsidiary inflated sales by ¥36.3 billion (US$310 million) over a period of five years. NEC will restate its own earnings. NEC Engineering inflated sales figures and added a total of ¥9.3 billion to operating profit using falsified transactions starting in the fiscal year that ended in March 2002 and continuing through last December, NEC said in a release distributed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The transactions affected earnings for five business years, NEC said. An employee of the subsidiary falsified transaction documents and benefited financially, NEC said. NEC plans to file a complaint against the employee.
■ Internet
Yahoo offers US call service
Yahoo Inc, looking to boost sales of fee-based services, is introducing software that lets US users make phone calls from their computers to regular telephones. Calls within the US will cost US$0.02 a minute, while calls to other countries will cost US$0.02 a minute or less, Brad Garlinghouse, a Yahoo vice president, said on Tuesday in an interview. Users will also be able to set up a phone number for US$2.99 a month so they can receive calls on their computers. Yahoo is introducing the features in the US three months after Europe because the company needed more time to fix bugs and improve call quality, Garlinghouse said.
■ Telecoms
Tesco to sell phone contracts
Tesco Plc plans to offer an own-brand contract mobile phone, the Times of London said, citing Andy Dewhurst, head of the company's telecommunications division. Tesco's service will operate over the O2 Plc network, the newspaper reported. Tesco's pay-as-you go service has attracted more than a million customers since it was started two years ago, the newspaper said. "Our customers say they don't feel comfortable in traditional phone shops," the paper cited Dewhurst as saying. "Giving them a simplified contract range will be the breath of fresh air that pay-monthly mobile users have been looking for."
■ Economy
Malaysia overhauls car rules
Malaysia reduced taxes on most imported vehicles under a new auto policy announced yesterday, saying the increased competition will make the domestic car industry viable. It also announced a ban on import of second-hand cars by 2010, and a reduction in import duties on cars made in ASEAN countries to 5 percent. The new rules take effect today.
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