■ Semiconductors
Asia-Pacific market growing
Growth in the Asia-Pacific semiconductor market increased by 7 percent last year while slowing globally, a research firm said yesterday. The region saw revenues hit US$105.5 billion and improved its share of the global market from 43.1 percent in 2004 to 44.5 percent last year, iSuppli said. Intel led the market-share rankings in the Asia-Pacific, with a 16.8 percent share in the region. Samsung emerged a distant second with a 5.7 percent market share, and Texas Instruments third with 5.3 percent. Semiconductor sales globally hit US$237.1 billion last year, with the same top three vendors.
■ Electronics
Sony eyes Toyota for board
Sony may name Toyota Motor vice chairman Fujio Cho as an outside director, the Nihon Keizai daily reported yesterday without citing anyone. Sony, the world's second-largest maker of consumer electronics, names candidates for its board of directors at the end of this month when it announces fiscal-year earnings, said Mami Imada, a spokeswoman at the Tokyo-based company. She said "nothing has been decided" on Cho's possible candidacy. Cho, who is also chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, may help revive Sony's unprofitable electronics division by employing Toyota's production technology, the Nikkei reported.
■ Internet
Yahoo going mobile
US Internet search portal Yahoo has teamed with Canada's Research In Motion to make its services available on BlackBerry handheld devices, the companies announced on Wednesday. Yahoo e-mail, searches and content will be available to BlackBerry users as a result of a "strategic global alliance," according to the companies. Information about availability of "Yahoo Go for Mobile" will be posted on the Yahoo and BlackBerry Web sites, representatives said.
■ Steel
Mittal holds firm on offer
Global steel giant Mittal Steel said on Wednesday it would not improve its offer for Arcelor following the European steel group's bid to persuade its shareholders to reject Mittal's approaches by offering them bumper payouts. "We won't raise the bid," Mittal's European chief, Roeland Baan said. "The announcements by Arcelor have not changed anything in our position nor in our resolve neither in our ability to pursue this bid. So, very clearly we stick to what we have said we will do," he said. Arcelor sought to shore up shareholder loyalty on Tuesday by offering them 5 billion euros (US$6.1 billion) in share buybacks or special dividends in hopes of fending off Mittal's 18.6 billion euros share-swap and cash overture bid.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Merck found at fault
A New Jersey jury has ordered pharma giant Merck to pay US$4.5 million to a man claiming that the pain medication Vioxx had caused his heart attack, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. A New Jersey jury on Wednesday delivered a split decision in the cases of two men who said they had suffered heart attacks after taking Merck's Vioxx, WSJ.com said. The jurors said Merck must pay US$4.5 million in damages to John McDarby, 77, who claimed Vioxx caused his heart attack, it said. However, they found Merck not liable in a claim by a second man that his heart attack was linked to taking Vioxx.
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