■ Banking
Loan requests rise in US
US banks reported an increase in demand for business loans for the first time in four years as companies grow more confident in the expanding economy, a Federal Reserve survey showed. Demand for commercial real estate loans in the last three months also increased for the first time since 2000, while home mortgage demand cooled, according to the survey last month of senior loan officers at 56 domestic and 21 foreign banks. "For the first time since early 2000, domestic survey respondents noted that the demand for C&I [commercial and industrial] loans had strengthened," the Fed said. "The most important reasons for the strengthening of loan demand over the past three months were increased customer investment in plant and equipment and increased customer needs to finance accounts and inventories."
■ Automobiles
Japanese cars most reliable
Japanese cars are the most reliable vehicles on the road with Toyota taking the 31 top places in several vehicle categories, a long-term study by Germany's largest automobile association ADAC shows. In the 25-year study of break-down statistics on German roads Mercedes took the second position in reliability with 25 top positions. Fiat cars were at the bottom of the list in 19 vehicle categories, the ADAC said. Opel, Renault and Citroen also achieved low marks in reliability. In total, Japanese manufacturers reached 54 top positions compared to 53 by the European competitors, the ADAC found. Among the 104 losers there was only one Japanese car -- the Honda Civic. The ADAC said the reliability of Japanese cars could be attributed to the thorough preparation before the market introduction of a new model.
■ Telecoms
Sprint hires IBM
Sprint Corp, the No. 3 US long-distance telephone company, hired International Business Machines (IBM) Corp to run customer service at Sprint's mobile-phone unit, people familiar with the matter said. About 2,500 Sprint jobs will be transferred to IBM. The contract, to be announced tomorrow, probably will save Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint as much as US$3 billion in the next few years and hand IBM a similar amount of revenue, two people said. Sprint is moving parts of its business to IBM in part to improve service and cut costs at its loss-making PCS wireless unit, the fourth-largest mobile carrier, the people said. AT&T Corp, the largest long-distance provider, last year handed management of some customer-service operations to Accenture Ltd, a competitor to IBM.
■ Internet
Shanda appoints new head
China's largest online gaming company said yesterday it had appointed the head of Microsoft China as its new president. Tang Jun replaces Chen Tianqiao as president of Shanda Networking. Chen will remain chairman and chief executive officer. Tang, who worked for Microsoft for 10 years, is expected to bring the experience gained at the software giant to lead Shanda into a new era of interactive entertainment, Chen said in a statement. His successor has yet to be named, a spokeswoman for Microsoft China said. Tang's appointment is a part of Shanda's management reorganization before a planned initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
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