■ Telecoms
Siemens, Nokia ties at risk
The alleged bribery scandal surrounding the German conglomerate Siemens may scupper a planned tie-up with Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia, according to a German news report yesterday. Nokia could at the last minute withdraw from the joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, which is designed to merge their telecoms equipment and network activities starting on Jan. 1, due to a special clause in the merger contract, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported. Nokia Siemens Networks would have annual sales of close to 16 billion euros (US$20.5 billion) and a work force of 60,000, making it No. 3 in the telecoms equipment sector behind Ericsson and Alcatel/Lucent.
■ Investment
Fund eyes foreign targets
Japan's gigantic public employee pension fund is studying a plan to invest more in foreign stocks and bonds to increase its returns, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday, a move that could boost overseas markets. The three pension funds covering public workers and teachers at private schools had a total of ?54 trillion (US$469 billion) in assets at the end of March, with 68 percent in domestic bonds, 12 percent in domestic stocks, 6 percent in foreign bonds and 8 percent in foreign stocks, the paper reported, without saying where it got its information. Hoping to score better payoffs from overseas stock markets, the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare is considering boosting the percentage of funds invested in foreign stocks over the next 10 years.
■ Banking
Mizuho to open PRC branch
Mizuho Corporate Bank plans to set up a local unit in China to offer retail banking services to local customers in yuan, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said yesterday. The bank, one of the core members of Mizuho Financial Group, will file a request with Chinese authorities for the plan today, the business daily said. The wholly-owned local subsidiary will be set up in Shanghai, converting its five branches in Shanghai, Beijing, Dalian and two other cities to offices of the new entity, it said. Operation at the subsidiary is expected to begin early next year.
■ Insurance
Ming An plans IPO
Ming An (Holdings) Co, a Hong Kong-based property and casualty insurer, plans to raise up to HK$1.3 billion (US$167 million) selling shares in an initial public offering to expand into China. The firm will sell 700.3 million shares at between HK$1.28 and HK$1.88 each to raise HK$896.4 billion to HK$1.316 billion, Ming An said in a statement yesterday. Ming An said it's the only company based outside of China to have full approval to offer insurance products in the nation, including for motor and property. The company will offer shares in Hong Kong from today to Thursday. Trading of the company in Hong Kong is forecast to start next Friday.
■ Crime
Police warn loan sharks
Malaysia's police will set up special squads to pursue loan sharks who use violence and intimidation against borrowers, news reports said yesterday. The crackdown comes amid increasing public concern over illegal moneylenders after a couple harassed by loan sharks allegedly poisoned their sons to death and tried to commit suicide. Offenders who lend money without a license face a maximum fine of 100,000 ringgit (US$25,000) and up to five years in jail.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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