■AVIATION
Alitalia in ‘alliance’ talks
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday talks were being held with a “large foreign company” about forming an alliance with Alitalia to save the cash-strapped national airline from bankruptcy. “We’re aiming for Italy to have a profit-making national carrier,” Berlusconi told national news channel TG1. “We have a plan, we have the shareholders, we have the necessary funds, we’re talking to a large foreign company to form an alliance that would make a difference internationally,” he said. The Italian government said late last month it had pulled together enough funds to rescue the airline, which has been surviving on a loan of 300 million euros (US$471 million) made in late April from public funds after talks for an Air France-KLM takeover collapsed.
■STEEL
ArcelorMittal targets Brazil
ArcelorMittal, the biggest steel group in the world, said on Thursday it would invest US$1.6 billion in Brazil to boost regional production capacity. The announcement follows on the heels of a US$1.2 billion investment plan it unveiled recently aimed at boosting the capabilities of one of its plants in the southeast state of Minas Gerais. ArcelorMittal is raising its investments in Brazil at a time when international analysts say the country is fast becoming South America’s powerhouse economy.
■OIL
Prices drop below US$116
Crude prices slumped below US$116 a barrel yesterday as the market shrugged off confirmation that separatist Kurdish rebels were behind a blast that has cut a strategic oil pipeline in Turkey. Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month shed US$1.91 to US$115.99 per barrel in electronic deals. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month dropped US$1.73 to US$118.29 a barrel. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline at Refahiye in eastern Turkey has been on fire since the blast on Tuesday and was expected to be closed for about two weeks. Oil futures have shed about 20 percent in value since hitting record highs above US$147 per barrel on July 11.
■TELECOMS
Mobile translator unveiled
Internet voice telephony firm JAJAH on Thursday launched the first ever free service that lets English and Mandarin speakers use mobile phones to translate conversations. JAJAH Babel is being released in time for the Olympics in Beijing to help English-speaking tourists better communicate with people in China. JAJAH worked with researchers at US technology giant IBM to create a service that lets mobile telephones act as automated translators between Mandarin and English.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo to build new plant
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday its subsidiary in Vietnam would build a new plant and hire up to 12,000 workers as it steps up production of optical pickups for DVD recorders and other devices. Construction of the factory in Bac Giang Province will begin next month, with operations expected to start in April next year, a company statement said. “We expect the total investment in the new firm to be around US$95 million,” said a spokeswoman for Sanyo, which already produces optical pickups in Japan, China and Indonesia. The new firm operating the plant will have capital of US$10 million, Sanyo said, adding that sales were expected to reach US$300 million for 2012.
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