■ Semiconductors
AMD under investigation
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) said that it had received a subpoena from the Justice Department regarding an investigation into possible antitrust violations in the graphics processors and cards business. Sunnyvale, California-based AMD entered the graphics chip market earlier this year with the US$5.4 billion acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc. The move would allow AMD to broaden its product portfolio and shed its image as a boutique player that sells only microprocessors and flash memory chips. The deal was completed in October. AMD said late on Thursday that the Justice Department has not made any specific allegations against AMD or ATI.
■ Displays
Venture to raise capacity
Toshiba Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co's liquid-crystal-display (LCD) venture will spend ¥30 billion (US$259 million) to almost triple capacity to meet rising demand for screens used in mobile phones, cars and laptops. The company plans to build a new production line at its factory in Ishikawa, central Japan, by October next year, it said in a release on Thursday. The venture, the world's third-largest maker of small and medium-size LCDs, had 9.5 percent of the market in the second quarter, according to industry researcher DisplaySearch.
■ Insurance
Limit on foreign stake stays
China is unlikely to lift the 50 percent cap on foreign investment in life insurance joint ventures "in the foreseeable future," state media reported yesterday, citing the industry regulator. Foreign investors will still be required to operate life insurance businesses with local partners and will not be allowed to operate in the compulsory insurance business, the China Securities Journal reported. Currently, three joint life insurance firms have already seen their foreign stake exceed 51 percent, while AIA of the US has a special dispensation to run the only wholly foreign-owned life insurance company in China, the Shanghai Securities News said.
■ China
Money laundering found
China has uncovered the country's largest-ever case of money laundering, involving about 5 billion yuan (US$630 million), state media reported yesterday. The laundering took place in the "black market" in Shanghai and was discovered following a probe involving the central bank and other government agencies, the Shanghai Securities News said. It gave no other details. In 2003 the central bank was given the power to handle anti-money laundering investigations, and a new law it has drawn up to counter the problem is due to take effect next month.
■ Singapore
No hike in public fees
The nation will freeze all government fees for a year after raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 7 percent next year, a newspaper reported yesterday, citing the country's second finance minister. The city-state will not raise government charges on public parking lots, TV and radio licenses and other things after the sales tax is increased, Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said, according to the Straits Times newspaper. For businesses, the freeze will apply to fees for such things as a company's registration, or applications for work permits and visas for employees, the report said.
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