■ Entertainment
Harrah's stock on the rise
Shares of Harrah's Entertainment Inc, the world's largest casino operator, rose after the Wall Street Journal said a group of private equity firms is close to an agreement to buy the company. Harrah's stock was up US$3.30, or 5 percent, to US$69.73 at 10:45am in Frankfurt. The shares rose 0.9 percent to US$66.43 in New York last Friday, giving the company a market value of about US$12.3 billion. Texas Pacific Group and Colony Capital are among "a number of" buyout firms which have been involved in the talks, the Journal said on its Web site yesterday, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. An agreement could come as early as this week, the paper reported. Details are incomplete and it's possible that no transaction will take place, the paper said.
■ Utilities
Britain's AWG bought
A consortium headed by venture capitalists 3i Group PLC has won agreement to take over AWG PLC, a British water utility, in a ?2.2 billion (US$4.1 billion) deal, the companies said yesterday. The Osprey consortium offered 1,555 pence cash per AWG share, or a loan alternative. The offer price is 14.2 percent higher than AWG's share price of Sept. 13, the business day before AWG announced it had received an approach, the announcement said. AWG owns Anglian Water, which covers the largest geographical area of any water company in Britain. In addition to 3i, the firms involved in the takeover are CPP Investment Board of Toronto; Colonial First State of Sydney, a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Industry Funds Management of Melbourne, Australia. Peter Hickson, chairman of AWG, said the board unanimously recommended the offer, saying it "represents an attractive opportunity for shareholders to crystallize value."
■ Manufacturing
US expansion slows
The US manufacturing sector expanded at the slowest pace in over a year last month amid weaker auto sales and a slumping housing market, a trade group said yesterday. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM), based in Tempe, Arizona, said its manufacturing index registered 52.9 last month, below August's reading of 54.5 and the lowest reading since May last year. Analysts had been expecting a reading of 53.5. A reading of 50 or more indicates expansion, while below 50 shows contraction. The figure for last month represented the 40th consecutive month of growth.
■ Automobiles
S Koreans report top sales
Five South Korean automakers yesterday reported record sales for last month after strikes ended and demand grew at home and abroad. Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co, Ssangyong Motor Co and Renault Samsung Motor Co sold a combined 547,371 vehicles last month, up 43.2 percent from September last year. Hyundai Motor posted the highest monthly sales of 264,014 vehicles, up 52.3 percent from a year earlier. Domestic sales jumped 47.1 percent to 56,093, with exports amounting to 207,921 vehicles, Hyundai said. Exports of vehicles produced in South Korea rose 75 percent while car sales from overseas plants grew 29.9 percent. "Sales greatly improved as the labor union ended its strike in late July, normalizing operations on all our production lines," Hyundai 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
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
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
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