■ WEALTH
Buffett richer than Gates
Warren Buffett has overtaken Bill Gates to become the richest American in the Forbes 400 list, Bloomberg said, citing a recalculated list to be published later this month. The magazine, in its Oct. 27 issue, recalculates the effect of last month’s financial news on the wealthiest Americans, those who make up its Forbes 400 list, the agency said. The Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman added US$8 billion to his net worth in a 33-day period, Aug. 29 to Oct. 1, to reach US$58 billion, the agency said, citing the magazine. Buffett overtook the Microsoft Corp co-founder, whose net worth declined US$1.5 billion to US$55.5 billion during the 33-day period, the agency said.
■ ELECTRONICS
Micron to cut workforce
US semiconductor maker Micron Technology Inc announced plans on Thursday to cut its workforce by 15 percent over the next two years because of slowing demand and oversupply of memory chips. Micron, which has some 23,500 employees worldwide, said the restructuring would include shutting down production of NAND flash memory in a joint venture between Micron and Intel Corp known as IM Flash Technologies. Micron said most of the job cuts would come in Boise, Idaho, where the NAND facility is based and where Micron has its headquarters.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Ex-Samsung chief guilty
An appeals court yesterday found former Samsung group chairman Lee Kun-hee guilty of tax evasion but ruled he should not serve a prison term, court officials said. Despite pleas by prosecutors for a seven-year jail sentence, the judges upheld a lower court ruling which had imposed a three-year prison term suspended for five years. The appeals court also affirmed a 110 billion won (US$84 million) fine on Lee, who led the country’s biggest business group for almost 20 years. Lee, 66, quit the group in April following a corruption probe.
■ BANKING
Morgan Stanley shares drop
Morgan Stanley dropped for a fifth day after Moody’s Investors Service said it may reduce the US investment bank’s credit rating on concern the financial crisis threatens earnings and investor confidence. Morgan Stanley fell 5 percent to US$11.80 in German trading after slumping 26 percent on Thursday in New York to its lowest level since 1996. Moody’s put Morgan Stanley’s A1 long-term rating on review for a possible downgrade and lowered its outlook for Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Aa3 long-term rating to negative. “An extended downturn in global capital market activity will reduce Morgan Stanley’s revenue and profit potential in 2009, and perhaps beyond this period,” Moody’s said in an e-mailed statement.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Satellite beams photo
A Google-sponsored satellite has beamed its first picture back to Earth in a successful test of a camera that will supply images for the Internet giant’s free online map and navigation services. The high-resolution color image from GeoEye-1, which was launched on Sept. 6 from a US air force base in California, was of a university campus in Pennsylvania, satellite operator GeoEye Inc said in a statement. GeoEye-1’s main client is the US government’s mapping arm, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, but Google is a major sponsor of the US$500 million satellite and has exclusive commercial rights to its images.
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