■ MEDIA
Bancrofts face deadline
Members of the family that controls Dow Jones & Co Inc were asked to decide by midnight last night whether they would support Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's US$5 billion bid for the news organization, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. News Corp made its US$60 a share bid for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, on May 1. The board of Dow Jones endorsed the offer two weeks ago, sending the deal to the Bancroft family for approval. The Bancrofts holds 64 percent of the firm's voting shares. The WSJ reported that as of late Sunday night, nearly 28 percent of the votes favored the deal, citing a person close to Dow Jones's board. News Corp needs 30 percent to assure a comfortable margin, the WSJ reported.
■ JAPAN
Industrial output rises 1.2%
Japan's industrial output grew 1.2 percent last month, the first increase in four months as factories stepped up output after a recent soft patch, official data showed yesterday. The month-on-month rebound was seen as supporting the central bank's case for an interest rate rise next month although views are divided on the chances of a hike. Production was 1 percent higher last month compared with a year earlier, lifted by rising output of electronic parts and devices, automobiles and IT equipment, according to the report, which matched market expectations. But the government was reluctant to upgrade its assessment of the overall trend in industrial output. Manufacturers were upbeat about the outlook, forecasting on average that output would rise 1.8 percent this month from last and by 4.9 percent next month.
■ AVIATION
Boeing looks to India
Boeing Co raised its 20-year sales outlook for India as demand for transporting passengers and cargo grows in India. The country is expected to buy as many as 911 new planes worth US$86 billion by 2027, Chicago-based Boeing said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. That's 6.4 percent more than the forecast for 856 planes until 2026 made by Boeing last August. Indian carriers ordered more than 450 planes for US$30 billion in the past four years to capitalize on an annual 25 percent growth in air travel.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ghosn denies overreaching
Carlos Ghosn has denied he overstretched himself by taking the top job at both France's Renault and Nissan Motor Co, following the Japanese automaker's recent profit slump. Nissan's financial troubles are "disappointing" but the automaker is still "extremely profitable," Ghosn said in the Financial Times yesterday. He said it made sense for him to head both firms. "If I were running two independent companies with no synergies, it would be too much. These two companies have a lot in common [and] that's why I'm here," he was quoted as saying. He said the move earlier this year to give up the running of Nissan's US operations had been long planned, adding, "It's not that I was overstretched."
■ TELECOMS
Phone deal reached
A Venezuelan-Chinese firm will begin producing mobile telephones in Venezuela, Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said on Sunday. A joint venture involving Telecom Venezuela and Huawei would produce as many as 2 million mobile phones annually, Chacon told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency. The model will also use the GSM system, he 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
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