■ Japan
Top broker to enter banking
Japan's top broker Nomura Securities plans to enter the banking business as early as next year by starting an Internet service for retail depositors, a newspaper said yesterday. Nomura will accept the opening of business accounts through its 130 branches across Japan, the Asahi Shimbun said without citing sources. Brokerages are currently prohibited by law from running banking businesses directly. However, the Financial Services Agency, the banking regulator, is set to submit a bill to parliament early next year which would allow brokers to offer such businesses for retailers by acting as an "agent" of banks, the daily said. Nomura Securities plans to become such an agent of Nomura Trust and Banking, which is part of the Nomura group, the Asahi said.
■ China
Underground bank busted
Authorities in China's financial hub Shanghai have busted an underground bank that was conducting millions of US dollars worth of foreign-currency transactions, state press reported yesterday. Investigators hauled in 15 suspects after a sting operation involving 100 police that lasted two months, the official Xinhua news agency said. One man, Zou Xudong, was fingered as the alleged ring leader of the black-market operation that extended to seven provinces and involved 90 domestic and foreign companies, it said. A recent government study found that underground lending totalled 750 billion yuan (US$92 billion) or 30 percent of legitimate lending from state banks.
■ Japan
Joint-venture plans scrapped
Japanese electronics company Hitachi Ltd and machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said yesterday they were scrapping plans to create a joint venture to combine their air-conditioning and refrigeration operations. The companies had said in June last year that the integration would be completed by April 1 this year. Under the deal, Hitachi Air Conditioning Systems, Hitachi's wholly owned unit, and Mitsubishi Heavy's air-conditioning and refrigeration systems division were to merge. A new agreement was reached to form ties in specific areas of the air-conditioning business, such as development, procurement and service operations, rather than seeking a full-scale integration, both sides said in a statement.
■ Auto industry
Suppliers to be rewarded
DaimlerChrysler AG said on Wednesday it will reward its highest-performing suppliers with longer-term contracts and other perks under a new system designed to cut costs and improve design. DaimlerChrysler said Johnson Controls Inc and Magna International Inc are among the first companies that will get contracts under the new system. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls and Aurora, Ohio-based Magna are designing the interior of a 2008 Chrysler Group crossover, Chrysler Group vice president Peter Rosenfeld said at an annual automotive conference in Traverse City. DaimlerChrysler awarded contracts for the project 12 to 15 months earlier than usual because the companies met DaimlerChrysler's performance targets, Rosenfeld said. DaimlerChrysler looks at suppliers' costs and financial health, among other factors, and then invites them to work on projects.
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