■AUTOMAKERS
Strike hits Toyota plant
Japanese car giant Toyota said it had halted production at an assembly plant in southern China yesterday because of a strike affecting an affiliated auto parts manufacturer, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The walkout at Denso (Guangzhou Nansha), a unit of Toyota-affiliated parts maker Denso Corp, is the latest in a spate of labor disputes to hit foreign companies in China, highlighting discontent among millions of workers. It has forced Toyota to idle two assembly lines at its plant in the city of Guangzhou because of a shortage of fuel-injectors and other components, said the report, which cited Beijing-based Toyota spokesman Hitoshi Yokoyama.
■AIRLINES
BA steps closer to merger
British Airways (BA) PLC said it reached an agreement with trustees of two pension plans, bringing the carrier a step closer to completing a merger with Spain’s Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA. British Airways will contribute £330 million (US$486 million) annually, plus inflation increases averaging 3 percent each year, the London-based carrier said in a Regulatory News Service statement yesterday. The recovery plan helps avoid the closing of New Airways Pension Scheme and Airways Pension Scheme. An agreement is critical to British Airways’s merger with Iberia because the Spanish carrier has the right to pull out of the combination should it find any deal unsatisfactory.
■ECONOMY
Canada growth quickens
Canada’s economy will grow faster this year than previously expected, the finance department announced on Monday, citing new private sector estimates. The near-term outlook has continued to improve since the beginning of March when the government released its last budget, the department said. As a result, the economy is expected to grow by 3.5 percent this year, instead of the 3.1 percent forecast in March, it said. Subsequently, higher growth this year will lead to a hike in Canada’s GDP by about C$24 billion (US$23.4 billion) in 2014. “This suggests that the medium-term fiscal forecast presented in Budget 2010 remains on track,” the department said in a statement.
■RESOURCES
Aussie mines see Asia boost
Powerful growth in Asia will drive Australian exports above A$200 billion (US$177 billion) from this year to next year, as new contracts bring in higher prices for coal and iron ore, officials said yesterday. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said economic growth in Asia was assumed to be largely unaffected by the debt crisis in Europe. Growth in Asia, excluding Japan and South Korea, would average 8.4 percent this year and 8 percent next year, it said. Australian mine production would jump this year and next year, lifting energy and minerals export earnings to A$169.8 billion, an increase of 28.5 percent from last year to this year, the official forecaster said.
■INTERNET
Google under investigation
The attorney-general of Connecticut is looking into whether Google broke the law by capturing people’s personal data from wireless networks while Street View bicycles and cars mapped streets. Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal announced on Monday that his office would lead a multi-state probe of “Google’s deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy,” which has drawn ire and scrutiny in an array of countries.
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