■ Economy
Fitch upgrades HK rating
Fitch Ratings said yesterday it had upgraded its outlook on Hong Kong's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to "positive" from "stable." The ratings agency said the revision mainly reflects the territory's strong external financial position and the continued reform of its public finances. Fitch expects the Hong Kong economy to grow 6.3 percent this year and 4 percent to 5 percent in the medium term, against the government's forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent for this year and 4 percent per annum from next year to 2010.
■ Automobilies
Lower tax aids Nissan profit
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday that its net profit in the first quarter rose 4.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to ¥110.2 billion (US$945 million) as lower taxes made up for a sales slump. However, its operating profit in the April-to-June quarter fell 25.7 percent year-on-year. Operating profit, which measures earnings before the deduction of interest payments and income taxes, declined to ¥153.3 billion. Japan's second automobile manufacturer sold 826,000 vehicles in the three-month period, down 6 percent, on a lack of new models, but group sales rose 3.1 percent to ¥2.21 trillion, it said.
■ Telecoms
PCCW trading suspended
Shares of Hong Kong phone operator PCCW Ltd (電訊盈科) were suspended from trading yesterday following a news report saying the company would reject offers by foreign investors for its core telecommunications and media assets. Citing people familiar with the situation, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday that PCCW's board of directors would reject separate bids for its assets from Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd and US investment firm Texas Pacific Group and its Asia-focused unit Newbridge. The report did not name its sources. The proposed asset sale had faced fierce opposition from Chinese state-owned phone operator China Network Communications Group, which owns 20 percent of PCCW. China Netcom suggested it didn't want to see telecom infrastructure on Chinese soil falling into foreign hands.
■ Oil
BP's Q2 profits up 23%
Despite a drop in output, British energy giant BP announced yesterday a 22.8 percent increase in second-quarter earnings on the back of soaring crude oil prices. Net profit, excluding gains in the value of its crude oil inventories, rose to US$6.12 billion in the three months to June, compared with US$4.98 billion in the same period last year, BP said in a results statement.
■ Gas
Watchdog raids 20 firms
Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog raided about 20 gas companies yesterday over suspected bid-rigging for natural gas station projects subsidized by the government, Fair Trade Commission spokesman Akinori Yamada said. The gas companies are suspected of having colluded on bids for projects to build gas stations for natural gas-powered vehicles around Japan, and financed by the government, Yamada said. The projects, worth between ¥3 billion (US$235.64 million) and ¥4 billion a year, are ordered by gas suppliers, gas station operators and local governments, Yamada 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