■ Italy
Banking causes political row
The Italian government was appearing increasingly divided in the fallout over the country's embattled central bank governor and disputed takeover offers, with a key minister on Saturday vowing to block any measure that could thwart one of the bids. The political storm over the banking situation is widely expected to color Friday's Cabinet meeting. "We'll see on Friday," Labor Minister Roberto Maroni told the Italian news agency ANSA. "We intend to oppose to the end any operation which would make [Bank of Italy Governor Antonio] Fazio a scapegoat." Maroni said that he feared the Cabinet would discuss a proposal that "aims to interfere with financial operations in course," a reference to Banca Popolare Italiana Scarl's takeover offer for Banca Antonveneta SpA.
■ United States
Housing boom to peter out
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan forecast on Saturday that a phenomenal boom in US housing will "inevitably simmer down." "Near term, the housing boom will inevitably simmer down," Greenspan said in prepared remarks for an economic summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. "As part of that process, house turnover will decline from currently historic levels, while home price increases will slow and prices could even decrease," he predicted. "An end to the housing boom could induce a significant rise in the personal saving rate, a decline in imports and a corresponding improvement in the current-account deficit," he said.
■ China
Textile talks drag on
European and Chinese trade negotiators sought to hammer out a solution yesterday to a dispute over textiles that has left crates of Chinese-made clothing stranded at Europe's ports. There was no word on any progress in the closed-door talks, which began on Thursday, said Michael Jennings, a spokesman for the EU office in Beijing. Shiploads of Chinese textiles have been stopped by EU customs authorities because they exceed import limits recently imposed to stem a surge in goods from China. The negotiating team from Brussels, led by the director of the EU Trade Defense Directorate, Fritz-Harald Wenig, was expected to seek changes to the existing accord that could bring forward import allowances to ease the holdup. But the state-run newspaper China Business News cited officials last week as saying that Beijing was unlikely to agree to use up next-year's allowance early, likening that to "eating dinner at breakfast-time."
■ United States
Bankruptcy code tougher
The new US bankruptcy code, which will take effect on Oct. 17, may have companies such as Delphi Corp and Northwest Airlines Corp reconsidering reorganization as rules become more stringent, Martin Fridson, publisher of Distressed Debt Investor, wrote in Barron's. The new bankruptcy rules will make it more difficult for companies to defer payment of utility bills and executive compensation restrictions will make it harder to retain or hire a top manager to help with a company turn-around, Fridson wrote in a Barron's article posted today on the newspaper's Web site. The new codes also impose an 18-month limit on the incumbent management's exclusive right to suggest a reorganization plan, while for retailers the new rules reduce the time a company has to decide which of its leases to shed, Fridson wrote.
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