■ Economy
FDI in S Korea drops
Foreign investment in South Korea fell 14.8 percent in the third quarter amid concern about steady outflows of foreign capital, official data showed yesterday. From July through last month, direct foreign investment (FDI) stood at US$2.6 billion, down 14.8 percent from a year earlier, the ministry of commerce, industry and energy said. For the first nine months of the year, FDI dipped 2.3 percent year-on-year to US$7.52 billion, the ministry said, forecasting FDI will fall to US$11 billion by the year's end from US$11.6 billion last year. Experts blamed the drop on reduced foreign investment tax breaks, a tax audit of foreign funds and steps aimed at curbing the power of foreign investors.
■ Aviation
US mulls China-route bids
The selection of an airline to get a new US-China route would be based on the maximum benefit to the public, the spokeswoman for the US Department of Transportation said on Tuesday. American Airlines, Continental, Northwest and United have submitted bids offering the next direct flight from the US to China. "The department's principal objective is to maximize the public benefits that result from the award of new international authority," spokeswoman Lori Irving said in a statement. The department is expected to choose one airline by the end of this year. The new flights will begin on March 25.
■ Hotels
Tata to buy Ritz-Carlton
The Tata Group plans to buy Boston-based Ritz-Carlton hotel for US$170 million, news reports in India said yesterday. The deal will be executed by the US subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company Ltd that runs Tata's Taj brand of hotels and resorts, the Business Standard newspaper said quoting R.K. Krishna Kumar, vice chairman of Indian Hotels. It was not clear if the Tatas would change the brand of the 79-year-old hotel, the Economic Times said. The Ritz-Carlton hotel would be the second US hotel to be acquired by the Tata Group. The group took over management of the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan last year.
■ Manufacturing
Westinghouse shift nears
Toshiba Corp said yesterday that it expected to wrap up its takeover of Westinghouse Electric Co, the US producer of atomic power plant equipment, by the end of this month. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co and the Shaw Group Inc of the US will be partnering with Toshiba to complete the acquisition of the company from its parent, British Nuclear Fuels PLC, Toshiba said in a statement. BNFL agreed in February to sell the business along with its US unit, BNFL USA Group, to Toshiba for US$5.4 billion. Toshiba's ownership interest in Westinghouse will be 77 percent, Shaw's 20 percent and IHI's 3 percent, the statement said.
■ Electronics
Fujitsu recalls Sony packs
Sony Corp's defective battery problems widened yesterday as Japanese computer maker Fujitsu said it will recall 287,000 Sony-made laptop battery packs. The recall is in line with Sony's offer last week to replace all of the potentially hazardous batteries. Fujitsu had already announced on Friday that it would exchange battery packs used in its FMV notebook computers although no malfunctions had been reported with them. At the time it did not say how many batteries it expected to recall.
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