■ Stock Markets
Japanese shares dive
Japan's benchmark stock index tumbled 2.8 percent yesterday, its biggest one-day drop since January, as the yen's surge prompted investors to dump major exporters like Honda and Sony. The Nikkei 225 index fell 489.56 points to 16,914.40 points, the lowest close since March 28. In percentage terms, it was the biggest drop since Jan. 18, when the market fell 2.9 percent. By points, it was the largest decline since May 10, 2004, when the index lost 554.12 points. Stocks fell in reaction to the surge in oil prices and the yen, which gained after senior finance and central bank officials from the world's largest economies ended their meeting in Washington on Sunday with a call for greater flexibility in exchange rates, particularly China.
■ Telecoms
Fund buys Telekom stake
The US investment fund Blackstone has agreed to buy a 4.5 percent stake in the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom from the government's privatization vehicle KfW for 2.68 billion euros (US$3.3 billion), the two parties announced yesterday. Blackstone was buying a total 192 million Deutsche Telekom shares at a price of 14 euros apiece, KfW and Telekom announced in separate statements. The purchase price represented a premium of 2.6 percent over the closing price of Deutsche Telekom shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Friday. Following the sale, KfW would see its stake in Deutsche Telekom cut to 17.3 percent, while the government continues to hold a stake of 15.2 percent, the statement said.
■ Telecoms
Asian cellphone firms ally
Seven Asian mobile phone operators have formed an alliance to work together in global roaming and other services to attract business travelers and tourists in the region, the companies said yesterday. Joining hands are NTT DoCoMo of Japan, Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong (和記電訊), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) of Taiwan, Hutchison Essar of India, KT Freetel Co of South Korea, PT Indosat of Indonesia and StarHub of Singapore. The alliance, with a combined customer base of 100 million people in eight countries and regions, will promote voice, video and data roaming among the networks, set to begin the latter half of this year, the companies said in a joint statement. Users will be able to have the same kind of services they have in their own nations in their own language when traveling abroad in places that are part of the alliance, it said.
■ Copyright
Court bans whiskey names
An Indian court has ruled that Indian whiskey manufacturers cannot use the words "Scot" or "Scotch" to describe their products, in compliance with WTO rules, a newspaper reported yesterday. The words "Scot" or "Scotch" identify whiskey produced in Scotland and no Indian manufacturer can use it to promote or market its product, the Deccan Chronicle newspaper quoted Judge Madan Lokur of the Delhi High Court as saying. This is the first such ruling in India on the WTO's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, which identifies products originating from a particular territory. The judgment was given on a lawsuit filed by the Scotch Whisky Association of the UK seeking to restrain Golden Bottling Limited, an Indian whiskey manufacturer, from using the name "Red Scot" to sell its whiskey.
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