■ Electronics
US probes Sony's SRAM biz
Sony Corp said yesterday that the US Department of Justice is probing its electronics unit. The firm received a subpoena from the Justice Department's antitrust division seeking information about its static random access memory (SRAM) business, Sony spokesman Atsuo Omagari said. Sony said it intends to cooperate with the investigation, which it described as an industrywide probe without elaborating. Omagari declined to provide other details about the probe. Last year, Sony produced US$27.7 million worth of SRAM. The product is made by outside manufacturers for Sony, which in turn sells the chips to other electronics makers, Omagari said.
■ Electronics
Toshiba doubles net profit
Toshiba Corp yesterday said that it more than doubled its net profit in the fiscal first-half, thanks to strong sales of digital products, home appliances and flat-panel displays. The company, which did not break down earnings by the quarter, said it earned ¥39 billion (US$337.4 million) in the six months through September, up from ¥14.6 billion during the same period last year. The profit jump came on a 9 percent increase in first-half sales to ¥3.162 trillion, from ¥2.9 trillion the previous year, the company said. Toshiba also raised its fiscal-year profit forecast to ¥110 billion.
■ Security
Samsung invests US$15m
Samsung Corp said it agreed to invest US$15 million in a subsidiary of General Electric Co to expand into tracking and protecting containers in Asia. Samsung will buy 10 percent of CommerceGuard to help operate the business in 12 Asian countries including South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, the Seoul-based unit of the Samsung Group said in a statement yesterday. Increased scrutiny by the US and other countries will help the container security industry grow to a US$3 billion market by 2010, Samsung said.
■ China
Duties on 58 items cut
China is introducing temporary tariffs on 110 energy-consuming export goods in a move to curb its soaring trade surplus and preserve energy, state media said yesterday. As part of the same policy, which takes effect today, import duties on 58 imported products will be cut, the China Daily reported, citing the finance ministry. "Clearly, this move shows that the Chinese authorities now attach more importance to external trade balance and domestic industrial restructuring than merely double-digit trade growth," the paper's editorial commented. The hike of export taxes and cut in import duties will "put a drag on the country's soaring trade surplus," it added.
■ Japan
Economic data worrying
Japan got a double dose of gloomy news yesterday with the unemployment rate rising to 4.2 percent in September from 4.1 percent in August and consumer spending falling sharply. The figures added to concerns that the world's second-largest economy is losing steam in tandem with the US'. Worries were mitigated, however, by a 50,000 decline in the jobless total from a year earlier to 2.8 million, down for the 10th consecutive month. The Bank of Japan reassured investors that a sustained economic recovery was set to continue. It announced as expected yesterday that it had agreed to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.25 percent.
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