■ Tobacco
Imperial buys Davidoff
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, one of the world's largest tobacco companies, said it bought the Davidoff cigarette trademark from Germany's Tchibo Holding AG for 540 million euros (US$693 million) as it seeks to boost sales. Imperial has been the licensee of the Davidoff cigarette trademark since it bought German cigarette maker Reemtsma in 2002, the British company said in a statement. Davidoff's sales will probably rise about 8 percent to 14 billion cigarettes in the year through September this year, Imperial Tobacco said. The acquisition is subject to approval from German regulators. Imperial Tobacco shares fell 0.4 percent to close at £18.05 (US$34.13) on the London Stock Exchange.
■ Food
McDonald's No. 2 quits
McDonald's Corp on Wednesday announced the unexpected resignation of Mike Roberts, the fast-food chain's No. 2 executive, as president and chief operating officer. No reason was cited in the announcement by CEO Jim Skinner. The company said Ralph Alvarez, president of McDonald's USA, will succeed Roberts. Alvarez will in turn be replaced by Don Thompson, currently executive vice president and chief operations officer of the US business. Roberts was widely seen as the likeliest candidate to someday succeed Skinner in the top post of the company. After overseeing the revitalization of the US business, he was promoted to the president's job in November 2004 when Skinner was named to replace Charlie Bell as chief executive. McDonald's has continued to increase sales solidly since then, although growth has recently tapered off slightly as the company came up against tougher comparisons with its impressive recent results.
■ Economics
Budget deficit falls
Germany's budget deficit declined to 2.5 percent of GDP in the first half of this year, according to government figures yesterday that underlined Berlin's progress toward complying with an EU limit. A healthy increase in income and other taxes helped reduce the deficit from 3.7 percent a year earlier, the Federal Statistics Office said. It cautioned, however, against drawing conclusions from the first-half figure for the full-year deficit. Berlin has failed to keep its annual budget deficit within the EU-mandated limit of 3 percent of GDP for the last four years, generating tension between Brussels and Germany, the continent's biggest economy.
■ Real Estate
Cheung Kong profits drop
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd (長江實業), Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's (李嘉誠) real-estate developer, said first-half operating profit fell 31 percent on lower home sales and reduced gains from investment property. Operating profit was HK$3.3 billion (US$427.8 million), down from a restated HK$4.81 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement yesterday. Net income was HK$12.2 billion boosted by a doubling in its share of profit from 50 percent-owned Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (和記黃埔). Sales fell 7.5 percent to HK$5.9 billion. Hong Kong property transactions fell 30 percent in the first half from a year earlier. Cheung Kong's property sales fell to HK$5.18 billion from HK$5.67 billion a year earlier. Accounting gains from increased values of its investment property fell to HK$642 million from HK$962 million. Cheung Kong's shares fell 2.5 percent to close at HK$84.45, their biggest one-day drop since June 8.
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