■ Telecom
IPO for China Netcom
State-run China Netcom, the country's second-largest fixed-line telephone operator, has applied to list its shares in New York and Hong Kong in an initial public offering expected to raise US$1.5 billion, state media reported yesterday. The company, formally named China Network Communications Group Corp, filed applications with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week, reports said. Citing unnamed sources, the reports said the initial public offering was expected to take place in September. China Netcom plans to list shares in its networks in six provinces and cities in northern China and its operations in Shanghai and Guangdong, the report said.
■ Jobs
Porn offers not wanted
Hong Kong's high unemployment has many people scrounging for work, but job fair officials have drawn the line at an advertisement aimed at recruiting "passionate" porn stars. The two-day job fair had been open for just 90 minutes on Tuesday when embarrassed organizers took down the ad for pornographic filmmaker Sun Power Production Co, according to two newspapers. Sun Power manager Tommy Wong was quoted as telling the South China Morning Post that he hoped to help the territory compete better in the adult film industry. "I don't understand why the organizers are so sensitive," Wong was quoted as saying. "We do not violate the law. People should not view us with bias. None of our ads are deceptive. I even mentioned that the actors have to be nude."
■ Scandals
Ahold unit faces charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged four ex-US Foodservice executives with accounting fraud for allegedly scheming to overstate the income of its parent company, the Dutch group Ahold. In a complaint filed in US District Court in New York, the commission claims the men participated in a scheme to overstate Ahold's income by US$700 million or more in fiscal years 2001 and 2002. The complaint says the four grossly inflated reported profits and induced suppliers to submit false data. One man was also charged with insider trading in securities of US Foodservice before its acquisition by Ahold and with making false statements to a government official.
■ Banking
BNP buys RSB share
French bank BNP Paribas said on Tuesday it had agreed to acquire a stake of just below 50 percent in Russian Standard Bank (RSB), the leading consumer credit bank in Russia, through its Russian unit Cetelem. An industry source said the deal values RSB at "about US$600 million." BNP Paribas said Cetelem will acquire 50 percent in the holding company which owns 93.5 percent of RSB. The World Bank's private finance arm International Finance Corp owns a further 6.42 percent in the bank. The acquisition will be earnings accretive from "year one," the company said. BNP said "it is expected that Cetelem's stake could rise subsequently depending on the future development of the bank." Further tie-ups between the banks will be pursued, in what BNP called "one of the European markets with the highest consumer growth potential." It added that the acquisition was expected to close by the end of the year.
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