■ Online music
Virgin to offer new service
Virgin Group Ltd, the company founded by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, plans to start an online music service in the US and the UK later this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The service, called Virgin Digital, will be provided by Internet music wholesaler MusicNet and consumers will be able to buy individual songs, music albums online or subscribe to a membership service, the paper said. London-based Virgin plans to offer the service through kiosks in its stores and also via its mobile phones; the company declined to provide information on the cost of the service, the newspaper said.
■ Risk
Investors taking chances
Investors have given international financial markets a boost by recovering their "robust appetite for risk," the Bank for International Settlements said in its quarterly review yesterday. The BIS found that the investment climate had improved so much since markets rallied one year ago that it was not even unsettled by fresh revelations of major accounting scandals such as the collapse of the Italian dairy giant Parmalat. "Financial markets around the world rallied into the new year, adding to the impressive gains recorded in 2003," the BIS said. "Improvements in global growth prospects and corporate finances, coupled with a robust appetite for risk, underpinned increases in equity and credit prices," it added.
■ Investment
Singapore to go shopping
The Singapore government's investment arm will spend S$100 million (US$58.6 million) to buy stakes in small and medium-sized companies throughout Asia over the next 12 months, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Acquisitions in commodities and agricultural companies may be included in addition to further investment in manufacturing and services in the region, said Rachel Lin, a spokeswoman for the government's Temasek Holdings. Through Temasek, the government has spent S$72 million (US$42.2 million) on small and medium-sized companies since July 2002, including stakes in electronics distributor Autron Corp, water company Hyflux Ltd, and car parts distributor YHI International. It also invested in Chinese shipping company, Cosco Corp.
■ Finance
Macquarie buys ING unit
Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd said yesterday it had agreed to buy the Asian share-dealing businesses of Dutch financial services company ING Groep NV, including operations in nine countries of Asia. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Macquarie chief executive Allan Moss called the deal "significant" because of its earning potential. He said it would also increase Macquarie's staff numbers by 8 percent. The transaction, which would be completed before July 31, will help Macquarie's position in the Asia Pacific region, Moss said. "Macquarie's management team is enormously excited about the potential for financial services in Asia and the opportunities this acquisition presents to strengthen our business and team in our region," he said in a statement.
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