■ Flat panels
Fuji Photo building plants
Fuji Photo Film said yesterday that it will build two more factories to boost production capacity of a key component for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in response to growing global demand. It will invest ¥70 billion (US$595 million) in the two new plants in Kumamoto Prefecture to produce triacetate cellulose film, a core part of LCD screens, it said in a statement. In addition to the ¥40 billion spent on the first factory, the total investment will be ¥110 billion. Together the new plants will double the group's output capacity for the film. The company already has other factories producing the film in Kanagawa Prefecture. The first new factory will start operations in October. The second new plant will start up in August next year and the third the following April.
■ Flat panels
Samsung SDI boosts line
Samsung SDI, the world's largest maker of plasma display panels (PDPs), yesterday announced a US$750 million plan to expand production. The South Korean flat screen display manufacturer said it would invest 730 billion won (US$751 million) in a new PDP production line at its plant in Ulsan. The new PDP line will open next March and will produce 3 million 42-inch PDP screens a year, bringing the company's total capacity to 7.32 million units per year, it said. Samsung SDI already has three PDP lines in Cheonan, south of Seoul. "As its fourth PDP line is to begin mass production from May in 2007, Samsung SDI will actively cope with rapidly growing demand for PDPs," it said in a statement.
■ Telecoms
KDDI, Tokyo Electric in talks
KDDI Corp and Tokyo Electric Power Co are in talks on possibly joining their fiber optical businesses, a move that would make them a bigger player in the telecommunications sector. KDDI is in discussions with the utility company about working together on integrating their fiber-optics networks, but no decision has been reached, its public relations office said. Fiber optics relay data at much faster speeds than other types of broadband, and may grow into being a major way digital gadgets in homes link to the Internet for e-mail exchanges, entertainment downloads and Net surfing. Tokyo Electric Power said it was considering various options.
■ Aviation
US airlines anger travelers
Travelers increasingly are unhappy with US airlines, ranking lost luggage among their biggest complaints, according to an annual survey by university researchers that rates carriers' quality. "They're less on time, they're losing bags at a rate they've never done before and people are complaining again," said Dean Headley, co-author of a study released yesterday. Passenger complaints increased 17 percent last year over 2004 and the rate of mishandled baggage jumped from 4.83 per 1,000 passengers to 6.06 last year, according to the study. Customer satisfaction last year was the lowest since 2000, said Headley, an associate professor at Wichita State University in Kansas. Passengers are now returning to pre-Sept. 11 levels, but there are 200,000 fewer airline employees to serve them, he said. Intense competition from low-fare airlines and high fuel prices have forced many traditional airlines to cut back or charge passengers for amenities. Airline industry spokesman David Castelveter said carriers know their service has suffered and are trying to improve it.
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