■ELECTRONICS
NXP to close plants
NXP Semiconductors BV said it would close or sell four plants and cut 4,500 jobs. NXP, the former chipmaking arm of Royal Philips Electronics NV that was bought by a group of private equity investors in 2006, said it was responding to “a challenging economic environment, a weak US dollar” and its own decision to sell most of its wireless chip manufacturing operations to STMicroelectronics NV in April. The company said in a statement yesterday it would close or sell factories in Fishkill, New York; Nijmegen, Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany and Caen, France.
■AUTOMOBILES
Mitsubishi dumps washers
Mitsubishi Electric Corp said it would exit the washing machine business next month and focus on air conditioners and other products. Sales of washing machines were US$108 million last fiscal year, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on its Web site. Mitsubishi will take a charge for the withdrawal in the second quarter. It said the charge would not affect its earnings forecast.
■CLOTHING
Strikes at Vietnam factories
Some 2,000 workers at two foreign-owned companies have gone on strike, demanding better pay and allowances, company and union officials said yesterday. More than 1,400 workers at Valley View Vietnam, a Taiwanese-owned garment company based in Danang, have been on strike since Thursday, demanding a monthly gasoline allowance of US$6 and an increase in their daily meal allowance. Meanwhile, more than 400 workers at South Korea’s Daewoong and J. Young, a garment company in the outlying Ho Chi Minh City district of Hoc Mon, are demanding a pay raise of US$18.
■CHINA
Industrial output slows
Industrial output growth fell to its lowest level in 18 months last month, adding to signs that the country’s rapid economic expansion faces a sharp downturn, according to data reported yesterday. Last month’s industrial output grew 12.8 percent over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. That was 1.9 percentage points below July’s figure and 4.7 percentage points below last month.
■TELECOMS
Temasek loses appeal
Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings over a ruling that it breached anti-monopoly laws, the court spokesman said yesterday. “Yes, it’s true,” Djoko Sarwoko said, confirming the court’s ruling. Temasek said it had not broken the law, and appealed to the top court in May after the Central Jakarta district court upheld a ruling by the competition watchdog and ordered it to divest its holdings in either PT Telkomsel or PT Indosat. They are Indonesia’s two largest mobile operators, by subscribers.
■VIETNAM
Tax targets foreign gas
The government will impose a 5 percent tax on imported gasoline to offset state subsidies as world oil prices hover around US$100 a barrel, state media reported yesterday. The new tax will take effect on Monday, the online VnExpress newspaper said, citing a decision signed by Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan. Last year, the government scrapped a previous 5 percent gasoline import tax. The move has cost the government US$1.5 billion in tax revenues.
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