■ CRIME
Hitachi executive charged
An executive with Hitachi Displays Ltd was charged on Tuesday with participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, the US Justice Department said. Sakae Someya, a Japanese national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco and charged with conspiring to fix the prices of LCD panels sold to US computer maker Dell for use in notebook computers, the department said. Hitachi Displays agreed on March 10 to pay a US$31 million fine for its role in the conspiracy to fix LCD prices. If convicted, Someya faces a fine of US$1 million and up to 10 years in prison.
■ BANKING
UBS hires new CEO
UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, hired Ulrich Koerner as chief operating officer, replacing Walter Stuerzinger in a push to reorganize services and cut costs. Koerner, who previously headed Credit Suisse Group AG’s Swiss business, will oversee the integration of infrastructure and service functions in the corporate center and become a member of UBS’s executive board, the Zurich-based bank said Wednesday. Stuerzinger will leave the board and support Koerner in his new role. “This step creates the potential for sustainable efficiency increases and cost savings,” UBS said in the statement. “Under the leadership of the new Group COO, the corresponding management and organizational structure will be immediately revised and implemented in an ongoing manner.”
■ ELECTRONICS
Toshiba buys out LCD arm
Toshiba Corp said yesterday it would buy out its LCD joint venture with Panasonic Corp for about US$20 million in a bid to overhaul the struggling business. Toshiba, which has a 60 percent stake in Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co (TMD), will buy the remaining 40 percent from Panasonic for ¥2 billion (US$20.41 million), spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida said. The business, set up in 2002 to produce small and medium-sized LCDs for mobile phones, portable computers and car navigation displays, is the number two producer in that market after Epson. The new company will become a wholly owned subsidiary from April 28 and will be renamed Toshiba Mobile Display Co, the company said.
■ CHINA
New rules for investors
China plans to extend the period that foreign investors must hold their stakes in local banks, following anger over recent quick sales, state media said yesterday. China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang (劉明康) said the lockup period for new foreign strategic investors must be increased to at least five years, the Shanghai Securities News reported. It said the current period is three years. No details were given as to when the new regulation would be implemented.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Record trade surplus
South Korea recorded a record trade surplus of US$4.6 billion last month because of the value of imports falling more sharply than exports, a government report said yesterday. Exports fell 21.2 percent from a year earlier to US$28.3 billion last month. But imports slumped 36 percent to US$23.7 billion, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. The trade account has been in the black for two straight months, with a US$3.3 billion surplus in February. For the first three months of this year, the surplus reached US$3.9 billion, a sharp turnaround from a US$6.6 billion deficit a year earlier.
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