■ Automobiles
DaimlerChrysler opens plant
DaimlerChrysler AG yesterday formally opened its first factory in China, where it will make Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler sedans, joining a rush of foreign automakers scrambling to gain a foothold in China's booming car market. DaimlerChrysler said the factory in suburban Beijing is part of a US$1.9 billion investment in China. DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche said the company plans to expand its financing business and is talking to potential Chinese partners about possibly producing a lower-cost model to be sold in the US under the Dodge brand.
■ Economics
Remittance figure rises
Remittances from the Philippines' large overseas work force rose 15.8 percent from a year earlier to US$7 billion in the first seven months of this year, the central bank said yesterday. The central bank figure does not include money sent through informal channels by the more than eight million Filipinos -- a tenth of the population -- working in various parts of the world. The upturn was attributed to "rising demand for Filipino workers" and the increased access of such workers to the services of commercial banks and private remittance agents, the bank said in a statement.
■ Electronics
Deal ends Toshiba battle
Toshiba Corp has settled an intellectual property dispute over memory chips and cards with US semiconductor maker Micron Technology, the two companies announced yesterday. The deal ends a prolonged legal battle over trade secrets for flash memory chips and cards with Lexar Media Inc, which was acquired by Micron earlier this year. Lexar had demanded that Toshiba halt the import of the chips and cards, which the US company claimed infringed on its intellectual property rights. Toshiba will purchase some of Micron's semiconductor technology patents and also license patents previously owned by Lexar for US$288 million, according to a joint statement released yesterday.
■ Oil
Petrobras eyes firm
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) is in talks to buy a Japanese refiner affiliated with US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp, a Japanese business newspaper reported yesterday. Petrobras is aiming to expand in the booming Asian oil market by purchasing Nansei Sekiyu KK, owned 87.5 percent by TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK, a unit of Exxon Mobil, the Nihon Keizai reported. The rest of Nansei Sekiyu is owned by trading company Sumitomo Corp. If Petrobras completes the deal, it would become the first oil producing nation to own a refinery station in Japan.
■ Oil
BP seeks to test pipeline
Oil giant BP PLC has asked permission from the US Department of Transportation to resume production on the eastern half of Prudhoe Bay so it can perform pipeline tests. London-based BP submitted the application on Wednesday, saying it wants production restarted on the field so it can conduct more thorough tests -- using so-called cleaning and inspection ``pig'' devices -- on the eastern transit line to determine if it can be used to move oil to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The eastern half of Prudhoe Bay was closed last month over fears of leaks and corrosion, cutting production from the US' largest oil field by about half.
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