■ Paper
Indonesia cuts key rate
Bank Indonesia (BI) cut the bank's key policy rate, called the BI rate, by 50 basis points to 11.25 percent yesterday amid easing inflationary pressures and improved macroeconomic conditions. "After taking into account improved macroeconomic stability, BI confidence on the achievement of 2006 and 2007 inflation targets and market confidence, the board of governors' meeting decided to cut the BI rate by 50 basis points," BI spokesman Budi Mulya told reporters. The full-year inflation target for this year is 8 percent, plus or minus 1 percentage point, and for next year at 6 percent, plus or minus 1 percentage point.
■ Retail
Wal-Mart bids for Daiei
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, has bid to form a business tie-up with troubled Japanese supermarket chain Daiei Inc, a news report said yesterday. Submitting a rival bid to help rehabilitate Daiei is Japanese retailer Aeon Co, Kyodo News agency reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The bids were submitted to trading house Marubeni Corp -- Daiei's biggest shareholder which is overseeing the firm's recovery. Marubeni said last month it was open to strategic partners in operating Daiei, but denied news reports at that time it had approached either Wal-Mart or Aeon.
■ Real estate
Sturdier homes wanted
Japan, where many homeowners tear down their house and rebuild every 30 years or so, wants to promote longer lasting dwellings, the Yomiuri Shimbun said yesterday. The government may offer tax breaks to those who build more sturdy houses in an effort to raise the average lifespan of a new home to 40 years within the next decade, and 200 years within the next half century, it said, quoting government sources. Conditioned by a long history of devastating earthquakes and fires, the Japanese typically tear down their home and start from scratch every few decades instead of adding a room or moving house as their family grows or shrinks.
■ Banking
Chinese bank planning IPO
China's biggest commercial bank plans to raise up to US$19 billion with an initial public offering this year, possibly breaking the record for the world's biggest IPO, a news report said yesterday. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商 銀行) plans to sell shares simultaneously on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges before the end of next month, Dow Jones Newswires said, citing documents submitted to Chinese securities regulators.
■ Chemicals
Bayer expands China plant
Germany's Bayer yesterday expanded a massive new chemical plant near Shanghai, part of a US$1.8 billion integrated facility being built to keep up with soaring demand. The complex, which processes various chemicals relating to polyurethane as well as polycarbonates -- used for auto and furniture finishes, insulation and footwear, is in an industrial park along Hangzhou Bay. It's expected to be fully completed by 2008. Bayer (China) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Leverkusen-based company, says the three new production facilities that started operations yesterday are part of the company's plan to develop a complete manufacturing base to meet demand in Asia, which is growing by more than 10 percent per year.
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