■AVIATION
Air New Zealand freezes pay
Air New Zealand will freeze the salaries of about 1,000 senior staff and limit pay hikes for lower paid workers as demand for travel languishes amid the global recession. Chief executive Rob Fyfe said yesterday the airline is also looking at cuts to flights, with the results of its investigation expected within two weeks. “With revenue under pressure we must do everything possible to manage our costs,” he said in a statement. Some 200 workers have already been made redundant at the national carrier, which is reducing labor costs through leave without pay, flexible working arrangements, overtime cuts and not replacing staff who leave. The freeze affects managers and other staff earning more than NZ$80,000 (US$46,800) a year who don’t fall under a contract negotiated by unions — about 9 percent of the airline’s employees. From July 1, maximum pay increases for lower-paid workers will be limited to between 1 percent and 2.5 percent.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota reveals new Prius
Toyota rolled out the revamped Prius yesterday and said it already had orders for 80,000 units in Japan for the remodeled hybrid amid intensifying competition with Honda’s rival offering, the Insight. The world’s largest automaker has set an annual target of 400,000 units in global sales for the car, it said.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Toshiba to begin share sale
Toshiba Corp, Japan’s biggest maker of semiconductors, will sell more than US$3 billion in shares after a record loss wiped out more than half of the company’s capital last year. Toshiba plans to offer 870 million new shares at 3 percent to 5 percent below the stock closing price on the day of the sale, which may be as early as next week, said an e-mail sent to investors by sale arranger Nomura Holdings Inc yesterday. About 690 million shares will be sold to Japanese investors and 180 million to overseas buyers, the e-mail said. Toshiba plans to sell about US$5 billion in shares and bonds after tumbling chip prices drove the company to a loss of ¥343.6 billion (US$3.6 billion) last fiscal year.
■SOFTWARE
SAP positive on outlook
SAP AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of business-management software, said China’s 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) plan to boost the economy was having a “positive” effect on the Asia-Pacific region and helping to improve orders. “Our pipeline is looking up for the rest of the year,” Geraldine McBride, chief executive officer of SAP Asia-Pacific Japan, said in an interview yesterday. “I see that there is more liquidity in the market now.” The outlook for Asia is looking “more positive” as SAP seeks to cap costs and as measures by China and other governments in the Asia-Pacific region take effect, McBride said.
■TELECOMS
Union fails to stop Vodafone
A last-minute attempt by South African trade unions to prevent British telecoms giant Vodafone gaining control of local mobile phone operator Vodacom failed at the weekend. A court on Sunday dismissed an application by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to prevent fixed-line operator Telkom selling a 15 percent stake in Vodacom to Vodafone. The 20.95 billion rand (US$2.4 billion) deal gives Vodafone control of Vodacom. Telkom is distributing its remaining 35 percent stake in Vodacom shares to its shareholders. Vodafone already holds the remaining 50 percent.
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