■ AUTOMOBILES
London taxi debuts in China
London's famous black cab broke new ground yesterday with its debut appearance in China. The cabs, which have plied the streets of the British capital since 1948, took a bow at the auto show in Shanghai, where a new joint venture is aiming to produce 20,000 of the vehicles every year. A gold-painted version of the London icon was put on display to promote the new venture between Chinese carmaker Geely and Britain's Manganese Bronze Holdings, original maker of the car. Geely plans to formally produce models of the cab in a new facility in Shanghai starting next year.
■ COMPUTERS
PC sales rise in Asia-Pacific
Personal computer sales in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan totalled 12.7 million units in the first quarter, up 18 percent from a year earlier, a research house said on Friday. Sales slowed 2 percent, however, from the final quarter last year due to the February Lunar New Year holidays in most of the region, International Data Corp (IDC) said. In the first quarter, Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) was the top seller with 17.8 percent of market share, followed by Hewlett-Packard Co, with a 15.4 percent market share, and Dell Inc, which accounted for 8.1 percent. Acer Inc was in fourth spot with 6.5 percent and Founder Group (方正集團) ranked fifth at 5.6 percent.
■ METALS
Strike hits Peruvian mine
Newmont Mining Corp said a strike in Peru by union members at the Minera Yanacocha mine, the world's largest, may not reduce production because more than half the employees will continue working. Recent protests organized by the union attracted about 200 of the 3,000 employees at the mine, Denver-based Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara said Saturday in an interview. The union broke off talks with the company on Friday after rejecting a wage offer. A walkout by the union members at Yanacocha ``would not reduce production unless striking employees engaged in blockage of roads or property destruction,'' Jabara said. Newmont is Peru's biggest gold producer and export earner.
■ AVIATION
Time limit for Qantas offer
The Macquarie Bank Ltd-led buyout group bidding for Qantas Airways Ltd said it won't extend its A$11.1 billion (US$9.3 billion) offer beyond May 4. The group, offering A$5.45 a share in cash, saw shareholder acceptances fall to 27.48 percent last week from 30.06 percent previously. Today the group said it will speed payments to shareholders accepting the offer. "Now is the time for those supportive shareholders to accept," Bob Mansfield, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg News. "If the bid fails the share price will almost certainly fall." Macquarie's bidding partners are TPG Inc, Allco Finance Group, Allco Equity Partners and Onex Corp.
■ AVIATION
AirAsia X picks Airbus
Malaysia's long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X has selected Airbus over Boeing for 15 new passenger aircraft, an executive familiar with the deal said yesterday. "AirAsia X decided to pick the A330-300 because Airbus came with a better commercial deal and the delivery of the aircraft will be faster," he said on condition of anonymity. He said the official announcement would come today.
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