■ Electronics
Apple TV launch delayed
Apple Inc has delayed until next month the launch of its gadget for streaming video and other content from computers to TVs, but the company would not explain why. The company had said in January that the US$299 Apple TV set-top box would be available this month. "Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March,'' Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said on Monday. Apple TV is designed to move digital content from a user's computer to a TV set and is anticipated to be a highly competitive product in the Internet-based videos to the TV market.
■ Trade
Gold at nine-month high
Gold traded near a nine-month high in Asia as escalating tension over Iran's nuclear research program spurs demand from investors seeking a haven. Gold for immediate delivery traded up as much as US$0.95, or 0.15 percent, to US$687.50 an ounce and traded at US$685.85 at 1:48pm. Gold, which has gained 13 percent since Jan. 5, touched US$688.56 last Friday, its highest in nine months. "The threat of a renewed round of anti-Iran sanctions and the potential for a disruption in crude oil flow from the world's fourth largest producer is keeping safe-haven buyers on the alert," Jon Nadler, an investment-products analyst, said on Monday.
■ Internet
Google to open R&D center
Internet search company Google Inc plans to open a research and development center in Singapore, its first in Southeast Asia, a newspaper reported yesterday. Google's managing director of Southeast Asian sales and operations, Richard Kimber, was quoted in The Straits Times as saying Singapore was picked for its "very vibrant ICT [information, communications and technology] space." The Hoffman Agency Singapore, a public relations firm representing Google in Singapore, said Kimber's comments were meant to recognize the city-state's efforts to foster talent in the industry but would not comment on the center.
■ Automobiles
FAW mulls stake
Chinese automaker FAW Group Corp (第一汽車) refused comment yesterday on a report it is considering bidding for a stake in DaimlerChrysler AG's ailing Chrysler Group. The Oriental Morning Post said FAW had sent representatives to the US to negotiate a deal. It cited an unnamed person familiar with the situation. Staff at the FAW Group headquarters' publicity office refused comment on the report. DaimlerChrysler's public relations department in Beijing also would not comment.
■ Lighting industry
Phasing out wasteful bulbs
European light bulb makers are close to an agreement in principle to work together on phasing out energy-wasting incandescent bulbs for the consumer market, the chief executive of Royal Philips Electronics NV's lighting division said on Monday. Philips is the largest lighting maker globally, followed by Siemens AG, known for the Osram-Sylvania brands. General Electric Co is the biggest in the US. "The tipping point is very close, to be frank, for the [European] lighting industry" to agree on a phase-out of incandescent bulbs in the home, said Theo van Deursen, CEO at Philips Lighting.
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