■ Entertainment
MySpace gets inside help
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch says his Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng (鄧文迪), is in China with the company's executives to help launch a Chinese version of its popular MySpace social networking Web site, the London-based Financial Times reported yesterday. Murdoch, speaking in New York, said the company is trying to find a way to enter the Chinese market without running into political obstacles and the "heavy weather" that Google and Yahoo have encountered, the paper said. Murdoch said MySpace in China was likely to have local partners, who would own about 50 percent, the paper said.
■ Automobiles
Toyota wants to be No.1
Toyota is targeting global sales of 9.8 million cars and trucks in 2008, including vehicles made by its subsidiaries, president Katsuaki Watanabe said yesterday, emphasizing the automaker's determination to overtake General Motors as the world's No. 1. "We are aiming for steady growth through strengthening all our operations," he said at a Tokyo hotel, adding that the company hopes to strengthen quality control, expand overseas production and cut costs. Toyota sold 8.13 million vehicles around the world last year, and is set to sell about 8.85 million vehicles this year, including sales by its subsidiaries, truck maker Hino Motors and small-car maker Daihatsu Motor Co, it said in a statement.
■ Automobiles
`Son of Rover' target set
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC, 上海汽車), China's largest carmaker, said yesterday that it will launch its first branded car based on defunct British carmaker Rover technology by the end of the year. The announcement follows news that Ford Motor Co bought the Rover name from BMW AG for ?6 million (US$11.3 million) in a move aimed at protecting the image of its British subsidiary Land Rover. SAIC, which has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen and currently produces sedans mainly under the brands of its foreign partners, said it will announce the model name next month.
■ Communications
`Phonebooks' for blind
LG Electronics Co has unveiled the world's first talking phone capable of reading books to blind users, officials said yesterday. The LF-1300 model hit the South Korean market this week, priced at around 400,000 won (US$417). The blind, visually impaired and dyslexic can buy the talking phone after presenting a government certificate. The phones are being offered at a special low price. Users can download about 300 audio books free of charge through LG's digital library Web site on a computer specially designed for the blind, LG said. Or they can download the digital books directly onto cellphones through the wireless network by touching a hot key on the handset, it added.
■ Computers
HP gets US Army contract
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) said on Tuesday that it was among several vendors to be awarded a multi-year Army contract to provide desktop and notebook PCs, printers, scanners and displays. The overall deal is valued at US$5 billion over 10 years, HP said. Other vendors include Dell Inc and CDW Corp. The contract allows the Army, the Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program and federal agencies and authorized contractors to order directly from HP.
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