■ PIRACY
Risky batteries fakes: Sanyo
Sanyo Electric Co said the mobile phone batteries Chinese authorities say are at risk for explosion are counterfeits and were not made by it. Sanyo, the world's biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, conducted an internal investigation after Chinese authorities said three battery models used in handsets may explode. The faulty batteries were all counterfeits, it said. A Chinese man was killed in Gansu Province when the battery in his Motorola handset exploded, the Lanzhou Morning Post reported last week. Officials in Guangdong Province found four counterfeit battery models that might explode in their handsets.
■ SHIPBUILDING
Daewoo doubles target
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co, the world's third-largest shipyard, boosted its target for this year's orders to US$17 billion, a 55 percent increase from a previous projection. The shipbuilder met its earlier full-year target of US$11 billion after it recently won container-ship orders worth US$1.8 billion from two buyers in Europe, the Seoul-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. "In the second half, we expect to continue receiving orders for higher-end products including container vessels and offshore platforms," company president Nam Sang-tae said in the statement.
■ JAPAN
Abe downplays tax hike
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the economy may be healthy enough to increase government revenue without needing an increase in the sales tax. "There is a good possibility that we can do without raising it," Abe said yesterday during a debate with Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa on Fuji TV ahead of this month's election. "Before we decide whether to hike the consumption tax we must focus on thoroughly cutting government expenditures." Japan's US$6.8 trillion debt is the world's largest and 1.5 times its GDP. Abe reiterated that the government will start discussing whether to raise the tax in the autumn, after the Upper House elections on July 29.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Seoul raises export goals
The government has raised its export growth forecast for this year, prompted by a steady global economy and strong sales of mainstay products such as cars, LCDs, and semiconductors. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said yesterday that exports will grow 12.8 percent this year from the previous year to US$367.25 billion, up from a January estimate of 10.4 percent growth. Exports rose 14.4 percent last year. Seoul lowered its trade surplus target to US$15 billion from US$17 billion because it expects domestic consumption to recover and international oil prices to rise. The nation racked up a trade surplus of US$16 billion last year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Nissan sets China target
Nissan Motor Co plans to sell 300,000 cars in China this year, after introducing its Infiniti luxury brand. It may consider adding a production plant with local partner Dongfeng Motor Group Co (東風汽車) to expand capacity, Yukihisa Kayashima, head of Nissan (China) Investment Co, said in Shanghai yesterday. Luxury car sales rose twice as quickly as the overall market last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers 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