■ Trade
S Korea, US talks stalled
South Korea has rejected a US demand that talks on forging a free trade agreement (FTA) include a dispute over US beef exports, officials said yesterday. The disagreement prompted Washington to postpone a working-level FTA session on sanitary conditions for the import of agricultural products, the Ministry of Agriculture said. "The session planned for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington will not take place because of a dispute over the agenda," it said in a statement. The fifth round of full FTA talks was clouded by South Korea's decision to ban three shipments of US beef over small bone fragments, even though it has lifted a three-year import ban imposed over US cases of mad-cow disease. In a heated response, US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a statement earlier this month that "the rejection of the third shipment clearly illustrates that South Korean officials are determined to find an excuse to reject all beef products from the US."
■ Brokerage
Nikko Cordial fined
Japan's trading watchdog recommended a ?500 million (US$4.24 million) fine, the largest in Japanese corporate history, against Nikko Cordial for allegedly padding profits, Kyodo News agency said yesterday. The company, one of the nation's top brokerages, said earlier yesterday it would correct its earnings reports for fiscal 2004 and 2005, as inappropriate booking of proceeds from derivatives trading helped inflate its earnings. The Tokyo Stock Exchange said it has placed shares of Nikko Cordial Corp on its supervisory post for review until the bourse finishes examining a correction in the firm's financial statement and rules whether it violated listing rules. The accounting irregularities stemmed from the August 2004 purchase of Bellsystem24 Inc by Nikko Principal Investments Japan Ltd, a Nikko Cordial subsidiary, Kyodo said.
■ Telecoms
Firms ink cable deal
KT Corp, South Korea's biggest fixed-line operator, yesterday said it signed a deal with US telecom firm Tyco Telecommunications to lay a trans-Pacific undersea fiber-optic cable. Under the deal signed in Beijing, an international consortium led by KT plans to build an 18,000km cable linking South Korea, China and Taiwan with the US. The consortium links KT and five other telecom firms from the US, China and Taiwan. KT said it would complete laying the cable in the second half of 2008 to meet growing demand for trans-Pacific Internet services. "The new undersea cable will help South Korea become a telecommunications hub in Northeast Asia," managing director Park Tae-il said in a statement.
■ Real estate
Apollo to buy out Realogy
A major private equity firm is set to purchase real estate giant Realogy Corp, the parent company of Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, for more than US$6.6 billion, the companies announced. Apollo Management, based in New York, agreed to purchase the company in a US$9 billion deal while assuming Realogy's debt and other liabilities of about US$2.4 billion. The private equity firm also is in the process of acquiring Harrah's Entertainment, the world's largest operator of casinos in the world by revenue. Under the terms of the agreement between Apollo and Realogy, stockholders would receive US$30 per share in cash, a news release said on Sunday.
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