■ Oil
CNOOC may sweeten offer
The board of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC, 中國海洋石油) Ltd was expected to meet yesterday to consider raising its US$18.5 billion bid for US oil major Unocal Corp, the Financial Times reported. Citing people familiar with the deal, the FT said CNOOC's directors would consider increasing its offer above the current level of US$67 a share in cash. The report coincided with CNOOC launching an ad campaign in the US in a bid to persuade US lawmakers that Unocal will be safe in its hands. The FT said Unocal's 10-member board was expected to gather today to decide whether to continue supporting the Chevron transaction or switch its recommendation to CNOOC.
■ Investment
FDI in China drops
Foreign direct investment in China fell 3.2 percent in the first half of the year as falling prices and rising costs prompted global manufacturers to cool expansion in the world's fastest-growing major economy. Overseas investment fell to US$28.6 billion after declining 0.8 percent in the first five months, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday on its Web site. Contracted foreign investmen rose 19 percent from a year earlier to $86.2 billion in the period. The government said on Tuesday that it will keep tax breaks for some foreign investors because rising labor costs and raw material shortages have madeChina's need for technology transfers and management expertise more urgent.
■ Automobiles
Mitsubishi cuts NedCar jobs
Automaker Mitsubishi Motors will cut nearly 20 percent of the jobs at its subsidiary Netherlands Car BV, or NedCar, from early next year to survive fierce competition, the companies said. Mitsubishi has agreed with labor representatives of Nedcar to sack 368 employees and to transfer 300 others to a labor pool for temporary positions for up to three years. NedCar is the only big manufacturer of passenger cars in the Netherlands with a workforce of about 3,900, according to its Web site. NedCar produced 187,600 vehicles last year, according to a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman in Tokyo.
■ Real estate
Trump sues HK partners
US property tycoon Donald Trump is suing his Hong Kong partners in a New York real-estate deal, accusing them of underselling a plot of prime Manhattan land, reports said yesterday. Trump claims Hong Kong investors who joined in the deal -- including New World Development tycoon Henry Cheng -- began selling parts of the property last year without telling him. He alleges the investors told him in April that they had agreed to sell the property for US$1.8 billion. But it later emerged that they had been offered US$3 billion from another bidder. Trump is seeking US$1 billion in the lawsuit, the paper said.
■ Banking
ING Group eyes Asia growth
Dutch financial services giant ING Group is looking to expand its presence in Asia and views the region as an engine for growth, Sheel Kohli, head of corporate communication in the region, said in a published report yesterday. "It is the company's objective to be either one of the top three foreign players or among the top five players in each of the markets in which we operate," Kohli was quoted as saying. These include Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.
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