■ Electronics
Pioneer to build TV plant
Japanese audio and visual equipment maker Pioneer is planning to invest more than ¥30 billion (US$263 million) to build a new plant to produce plasma televisions in central Japan, a report said yesterday. The plant, due to start operations by March 2008 in Yamanashi prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, would initially produce more than 300,000 units a year and raise output to more than 1 million units, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. With the new plant, Pioneer hopes to double its production of plasma televisions from the current 970,000 units, the business daily said. To lighten its investment burden, Pioneer would consider tying up with another electronics manufacturer on the facility, Nihon Keizai said.
■ Economy
Protesters pan HK tax plan
Nearly 3,000 people marched from a downtown park in Hong Kong to government headquarters yesterday to protest a proposal to levy a sales tax in the territory, arguing it will hurt local businesses. Protesters carried signs saying, "Say no to sales tax" and chanted "no to GST." "Our costs will be high. We expect many restaurants to not be able to take it and shut down," Woo Chu, a restaurant industry association official, said in an interview aired on Cable TV. Police spokeswoman Cynthia Au said that about 2,900 people marched yesterday. The government is currently consulting the public about a possible sales tax. It said in a statement that Hong Kong must take advantage of its current economic strength to shore up public finances for future generations. "We must act now to broaden our tax base for the future prosperity of Hong Kong," it said.
■ Economy
India needs infrastructure
India needs to invest US$330 billion in infrastructure over the next five years to sustain an average annual growth rate of 8 percent, the country's top business group said yesterday. The Confederation of Indian Industry said a study carried out by the group showed India needs to increase its spending on infrastructure projects to 8 percent of its GDP from 4.6 percent now. That means investments in infrastructure must total US$331 billion over the next five years, it said in a statement. India currently spends much less on infrastructure than China and other developing countries in the Asian region, and experts have often warned that its booming economy could falter because of inadequate ports, roads and power supplies.
■ Beverages
Soft drink sales halted
An Indian state has banned the sale of soft drinks at government-run schools and colleges, after allegations that drinks from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo sold in the country contained high levels of pesticide, a report said on Saturday. The government of western Gujarat state has asked state-run colleges and schools not to allow sales of soft drinks on their premises, the Press Trust of India said, quoting the state's education minister Anandiben Patel. The ban will be effective from today, she said. Last week, both firms denied the charges, saying the soft drinks they manufacture and sell in India "comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations." Gujarat is the second state to impose a ban after a New Delhi-based independent research body said last week that it found pesticide residues in samples of Coke and Pepsi that were 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
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