■ Banking
Global Trust's assets frozen
Global Trust Bank, a private bank in India with 882,000 depositors, has been ordered to freeze all withdrawals for a period of three months by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), reports said yesterday. The RBI order led to panic as depositors all over India rushed to ATMs and branches of the bank last Saturday only to find a closed notice pasted on the front gates, the newspapers said. At some branches angry depositors ransacked bank offices, damaging computers and furniture, while at others staff was heckled, the Hindustan Times said. During the three month freeze, depositors are allowed to withdraw only10,000 rupees (US$217) from the Hyderabad-based bank.
■ Trade
Australia, Malaysia in talks
Australia and Malaysia will examine the possibility of a free trade agreement today at a meeting of senior government officials, Trade Minister Mark Vaile's office said. Vaile will meet his Malaysian counterpart Rafidah Aziz in Melbourne Monday at the 11th meeting of the Australia-Malaysia joint trade committee. A spokesman for Vaile said Malaysian officials had floated the possibility of a free trade deal over the past 18 months and the Melbourne meeting was an opportunity to assess whether to begin formal negotiations. Australia has signed free trade agreements with Singapore and Thailand in the past 18 months and Vaile's office said Canberra had shown it was serious about its trade relations with Southeast Asia.
■ Airlines
SAS may beat Boeing
European aerospace giant Airbus SAS is "marginally ahead" of US rival Boeing Co in a battle to win a US$5 billion aircraft order from Virgin Atlantic Airways, a British newspaper reported yesterday. "We are on the verge of putting in a very big order," The Sunday Telegraph quoted Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson as saying. "Things will come to a head in the next seven to 14 days. Airbus is marginally ahead. That is a US$5 billion order." The Virgin order, which centres around potentially 30 more A340s or Boeing 777s, has been the subject of a bitter battle between Airbus and Boeing, the world's top two commercial jet makers. Virgin and Airbus have a long-standing alliance which Boeing has attempted to break-up by trying to persuade Virgin to buy its 777 twin-jets rather than the Airbus A340.
■ Indicators
Japan has recovered: poll
Japan's top 100 companies say the economy has recovered or has entered a recovery phase, citing a rise in earnings and capital spending, according to a poll published yesterday. The survey by Japan's top-selling daily Yomiuri Shimbun found all of the big firms, including Sony and Toyota, were upbeat on a recovery in the world's second largest economy. In a previous poll in April, 95 percent of the same top firms responded positively to the economic recovery. In the July survey, 65 firms said their earnings were improving, with another 65 saying they were boosting capital spending. Thirty-one companies also said economic growth in Asia was supporting Japan's economic recovery. But 75 firms said they were concerned over a possible slump in the global economy and 39 said they were worried over stagnant domestic consumption.
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