■ Retail
More Wal-Marts unionize
Employees at two more Wal-Mart stores in China have formed unions, raising the number to four amid efforts by labor officials to have the US retailing giant's 60 Chinese outlets unionized, an official newspaper said yesterday. Employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc outlets in Nanjing and Shenzhen voted at the weekend to form unions, the Workers' Daily said. Wal-Mart workers in Quanzhou voted last week to form the company's first union in China. Employees at another store in Shenzhen also voted on Saturday to unionize. The union votes followed a lobbying campaign by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group for unions permitted by the communist government. The group had accused Wal-Mart of blocking efforts to organize its employees. Wal-Mart has few unions elsewhere in its worldwide operations.
■ Aviation
Japan Airlines trims losses
Asia's largest carrier said yesterday it trimmed net losses in the three months to June to ¥26.7 billion (US$232 million) from ¥38.3 billion a year earlier because of a recovery in demand for travel to China. Japan Airlines, which has been slashing international routes, said its revenue rose by 3.7 percent to ¥522.2 billion, with international passenger revenue going up by 5.2 percent during the period. In international routes, "demand on China routes bounced back, making a remarkable recovery from the negative impact that last year's anti-Japanese demonstrations had on travel to China," Japan Airlines said in a statement. For the first quarter to June, however, Japan Airlines booked an operating loss of ¥31.9 billion, almost unchanged from the ¥32 billion loss the previous year, and recurring loss of ¥35.5 billion, a slight improvement from the ¥37.4 billion loss a year earlier.
■ Oil
Keppel secures rig contract
Singapore's Keppel Group said yesterday that it had secured a US$270 million contract to build an offshore oil drilling rig for a Brazilian firm. This is the first time that Keppel, the world's biggest maker of offshore oil rigs, is building a drilling rig for Brazil, Keppel said in a statement. The semi-submersible rig, to be designed and built by Keppel Offshore and Marine, will be delivered to the privately owned Brazilian drilling contractor Queiroz Galvao Perfuracoes in the third quarter of 2009. "The new contract represents a milestone in the deepening confidence of Brazilian contractors and operators in Keppel's ability to deliver quality products and services on time and on budget," said Keppel Offshore and Marine managing director Tong Chong Heong. Tong said the rig will follow an "innovative and highly cost-effective new design" to meet operational requirements for deepwater exploration in the "Golden Triangle" region, comprising Brazil, Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. This region accounts for 85 percent of the world's deepwater exploration and production expenditures over the next five years.
■ Media
Gates interview faked
A Norwegian journalist has admitted he fabricated interviews with Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates and US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, media reports said yesterday. Freelance writer Bjoern Benkow said in a statement that the interviews, published in Norwegian and Swedish media, were partially concocted because of financial "desperation," newspaper Verdens Gang reported.
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