■ Banking
Boss warns of bubble
A bank boss has warned that property prices in Hong Kong are rising too fast and could be heading for a bubble, a news report said yesterday. HSBC chairman David Eldon spoke out after a turnaround which has seen property prices in the territory rebound 20 percent since August. "Sentiment may be running ahead of fundamentals," the South China Morning Post quoted Eldon as saying. "If [speculators] pay far too much and if they are going to ride property prices up too quickly, I don't think it's a good thing for Hong Kong," he warned. Eldon's comments were supported by Liu Chong Hing Bank senior general manager Brian Cheung. "I really feel housing prices are rising too fast. The recent surge is unhealthy," Cheugn told the newspaper.
■ IPR Protection
China opens patent Web site
Chinese inventors have a new, electronic option for registering and advertising patents. Under foreign pressure to stamp out rampant piracy of patents and other intellectual property, the government launched the site in collaboration with state television. The site -- www.cipmun.net -- is in Chinese only. Launched Tuesday, it is crammed with information on patents, news and a patent search service. Sponsors include the State Intellectual Property Office, China Central Television and local television stations. Among the patented products listed on the site Wednesday: A bicycle with solid tires (no more hunting down a sidewalk repair stall for a bicycle pump). A voice-controlled cellphone advertised as "convenient for the elderly and disabled." A biodegradable plastic said to be "kind to the environment."
■ Privatization
Singapore to sell firms
Singapore's government will this year sell stakes in some state-controlled companies that aren't of strategic importance, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised interview. The government said two years ago it plans to sell companies that aren't strategic to Singapore in terms of being a critical resource or having the potential to expand beyond the city-state. It didn't specify which companies or say when those sales would be made. "The companies are no longer relevant to our mission," said Lee, 52, who has been named as a successor by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Lee declined to name the companies, saying it may hurt his "bargaining position." Last month, Temasek Holdings Pte, the government's investment arm, reduced its stake in Singapore Telecommunications to as little as 61.5 percent, from more than 67 percent.
■ Electronics
Device sales down 29%
Sales of handheld devices in the Asia-Pacific outside of Japan fell 29 percent on year to 1.59 million units last year, hurt by weaker demand in China where consumers now prefer products like digital cameras, a report said yesterday. "The sheer size of China's market dragged down the entire region as locally produced low-end handhelds fell out of favor there," said Manny Lopez, IDC's regional senior research analyst for personal systems. "But the silver lining is that more sophisticated products are continuing to sell across the region. Devices that go beyond just basic organizer features, such as multimedia and Wi-Fi, are helping to stir interest in the market."
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
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
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