■ Telecom
SingTel subscribers soar
Growth in Indonesia and India has pushed Singapore Telecommunications' regional mobile phone user base above 92 million at the end of June, Southeast Asia's biggest phone firm said yesterday. It said it added 7.4 million mobile phone subscribers in the three months to June compared with the previous quarter, the highest increase in its history. On a year-on-year basis, SingTel's mobile users rose 30 percent from 71 million.
■ Environment
Bank to finance credits
Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Bank said yesterday that it will tie up with the Bank of Brazil to secure credits for Japanese firms in cutting greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol. Sumitomo Mitsui's Brazilian subsidiary and Brazil's central bank plan to jointly finance Brazilian environmental projects in which Japanese firms would participate, the Japanese bank's spokesman said. "Usually many Japanese firms look towards India, our closer neighbor, to buy emission credits but we decided this time to look at the other end of the world," the spokesman said. "Brazil also has many small projects such as setting up methane-burning systems in [pig farms] which we can offer to smaller Japanese firms that don't emit as much greenhouse gas as large companies do," he said.
■ Steel
Mittal must offer buyout
Mittal Steel Co NV must make an offer to buy out shareholders of a Brazilian division of Arcelor SA as part of their blockbuster steel company merger, Brazilian regulators ruled on Tuesday, in a side deal that analysts said could raise the cost of the US$31.9 billion combination by another US$5 billion. Minority shareholders of Arcelor Brasil SA asked the Brazilian Security and Exchange Commission earlier this month to rule on the issue after Mittal said it didn't plan to offer a buyout. Arcelor and Mittal are trying to create a steel titan with close to 10 percent of global production that will save the combined operations some US$1.6 billion.
■ Automobiles
GM revises Q2 earnings
General Motors Corp (GM) said on Tuesday it revised its second-quarter earnings to reflect an additional net loss of US$200 million tied to estimated after-tax charges from the pending sale of a 51 percent stake in its finance arm. GM, in a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said its previously announced adjusted earnings of US$1.2 billion, or US$2.03 per share, were not affected by the changes. The world's largest automaker said last week it lost US$3.2 billion in the second quarter as it dealt with major charges in its large North American restructuring program. With the revisions, the net loss for the quarter has been increased to US$3.4 billion, or US$5.97 per share.
■ Resource
ADB funding gas project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday that it has approved a US$350 million loan to help develop a major natural gas project in Indonesia. The bank said the multibillion-dollar Tangguh Liquefied Natural Gas Project in Irian Jaya Barat Province is its first private sector loan in Indonesia's oil and gas sector. A senior official said the project encourages the use of clean energy around the region by providing environmentally benign liquefied natural gas. The project is being developed by the London-based BP.
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