■ Energy
US carmakers go small
With gasoline prices near records, US carmakers are gearing up to start selling fuel-efficient compact cars again, instead of pushing SUVs and powerful sedans, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most of the cars in the minicar range are priced at US$14,000 or lower, the newspaper said. Sales of cars less than 4.3m in length are expected to reach at least 410,000 by 2007, the newspaper reported, citing CSM Worldwide of Farmington Hills, Michigan. Sales of SUVs, such as the 5.2m Ford Expedition, have slowed, the Journal said.
■ Advertising
Chinese ad firm opens high
Chinese advertising company Focus Media Holdings Ltd (分眾傳媒) stock closed its first day of trading Wednesday at US$20.20 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, 19 percent higher than the offering price. The company, which sells advertising slots on a network of audiovisual television displays in lobbies and retail stores in China, sold 10.1 million American Depository Shares at US$17 a share, above its original expected range of US$14 to US$16 a share. Investors were drawn to the company's market share in China, as well as its exclusive agreements with landlords and property managers.
■ Coffee
Starbucks wins dispute
Starbucks Corp, the world's largest coffee-shop chain, won the rights to its trademark in Russia, ending a three-year legal dispute that kept the US company out of the US$500 million brewed-coffee market, Vedomosti said. Starbucks registered its trademark in 1997, only to lose it 2002 after a company called Press successfully appealed to Russia's Patents and Trademark Committee to annul it for lack of use, the newspaper said, citing unidentified patent officials. In September, a Russian company, OOO Starbucks, registered the brand, prompting Starbucks Corp to sue, which it did successfully on July 11, the daily said.
■ Home appliances
Maytag gets go-ahead
Maytag Corp said Wednesday it has received Federal Trade Commission approval for the appliance maker's proposed acquisition by an investor group led by Ripplewood Holdings LLC. Earlier in May, the home and commercial appliance company agreed to be acquired by Triton Acquisition Holding Co, an entity organized by the Ripplewood investor group, for US$14 a share, in a deal valued at about US$1.13 billion. Last month, China's Haier Electronics Group (海爾) and US private equity groups Bain Capital Inc and Blackstone Group made a rival bid, offering to buy Newton-based Maytag for US$16 a share, and raising concerns that the Ripplewood deal could be jeopardized.
■ Automotive
Ford veteran to help SAIC
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (上海汽車工業) is set to team up with the former chief executive of Ford Europe in an attempt to revive the Chinese carmaker's failed bid for MG Rover, the Financial Times said yesterday. Citing people close to the executive, Martin Leach, and SAIC, the newspaper said an agreement on terms for a bid to restart the aborted rescue of the troubled carmaker was imminent. If negotiations were to go ahead it would put SAIC head to head with rival Chinese competitor Nanjing Automobile (南京汽車) to buy the remains of Rover, the newspaper said.
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