■PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche acquires Genentech
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said yesterday it had completed its US$46.8 billion takeover of US-based biotech firm Genentech. Roche, which already held 55.7 percent of Genentech stock, said it acquired a further 37.5 percent of shares by the offer deadline on Wednesday. Roche said it had been guaranteed the transfer of a further 3 percent of Genentech shares in the coming days, taking its total holding to 96.2 percent and allowing the two companies to undergo a short-form merger.
■COMPUTERS
Dell targets PRC farmers
Dell Inc will sell PCs to China’s farmers, seeking to boost sales from a potential market of 800 million rural residents as the global recession weakens demand. Dell has 15 computer products it wants to sell to rural consumers in China, a market that makes up 5 percent of the company’s global business, the PC maker’s Greater China president Amit Midah said at a briefing in Beijing yesterday. Dell last month reported fourth-quarter sales fell 16 percent to US$13.4 billion, missing analyst estimates.
■AUTOMOBILES
Seoul cuts taxes on cars
South Korea yesterday announced tax cuts to spur car sales during the economic slump, but urged automakers to respond with a cost-cutting drive. From May 1 to the end of the year, consumers will be given a 70 percent cut in taxes when they replace cars registered before Jan. 1, 2000, with new models, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. The reduction will help the industry boost sales by up to 5.5 million units, the ministry said.
■THAILAND
‘Gift checks’ issued
The government began issuing “gift checks” to more than 10 million low-income earners yesterday as part of a stimulus package to curb the impact of the global financial crisis. Around 10.5 million people in the country of 63 million are to receive the handouts, said Bangkok Bank, the country’s biggest lender, which is issuing the checks. Only people with a monthly salary of 15,000 baht or less and who are registered for social security support are eligible.
■TELECOMS
Mobile demand on the rise
Broadband-service providers will see their revenue from mobile services jump to US$137 billion worldwide by 2014, up 450 percent from last year, a report said yesterday. But the number of mobile broadband users will likely outpace revenue growth as competition drives prices lower and because most of the new clients will come from less wealthy users in emerging markets, industry consulting firm Ovum said. The number of mobile broadband users — through handsets and laptop computers — should top 2 billion in 2014, up over 1,000 percent from 181 million last year, with the Asia-Pacific region emerging as a key driver, it said.
■ENERGY
UAE says oil prices too low
An oil price of US$70 to US$75 a barrel would be “fair,” United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said in an interview published yesterday. A record high US$147 a barrel in July was “unreal,” he was quoted by the official WAM news agency as saying. The current “weak level” of around US$50 “hurts everyone, and in our view a fair price would be 70 to 75 dollars a barrel,” 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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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