■ Forex
Thailand to ease restrictions
The Bank of Thailand yesterday confirmed that it planned to ease controversial capital control measures that sent the stock market plummeting last month, by exempting more overseas investment. Bank governor Tarisa Watanagase said that money borrowed overseas and invested in Thailand would not be subject to the reserve requirement measures, so long as all the money was hedged against the exchange rate. "The bank will officially announce the easing early next week, and it will be effective from Feb. 1," she said. Reserve requirements imposed in the middle of last month effectively lock up for a year 30 percent of any fund inflows coming into Thailand for financial investment.
■ Investment
US firms fight for retailer
Leading US-based private equity investors Warburg Pincus and Carlyle Group are in a battle for a stake in a top Chinese retailer with lucrative property assets, state media reported yesterday. The two US investors have been competing with more than 18 other foreign firms for a stake in Beijing Wangfujing Department Store (Group) Co since the first half of last year, the China Daily said. Wangfujing, a Shanghai-listed retailer, now runs 15 department stores in downtown areas across the country, the report said, adding that foreign investers may acquire only 25 percent of the shares.
■ Aviation
Airbus offers delay discount
Airbus has offered Thai Airways a US$10 million discount on each of eight A330-300 aircraft, with an option for four more, in compensation for delays in the delivery of the A380 suberjumbo, the airline's board said yesterday. Delivery of the first A380 is expected to be delayed about 22 months, forcing Thai Airways to reduce revenue projections, Thai Airways chairman Chalit Pukbhasuk said. The airline has ordered six of the long-awaited double-decker jumbos. Three of the A380s were originally scheduled to be delivered to Thai Airways in 2009 and another three in 2010.
■ Automakers
GM expects improvement
General Motors said on Thursday it expected to show improvement in its automotive business, including record fourth-quarter revenues, but will restate past financial results because of tax accounting adjustments. The giant US automaker also said it would be delaying the delivery of fourth-quarter and 2006 year-end results. GM reported a net loss of US$3.9 billion for the first three quarters of last year. GM did not say when it planned to announce its fourth-quarter results, originally scheduled for Jan. 30, but said it expected to file its annual report with securities regulators by the March 1 due date.
■ Investment
Blackstone hikes EOPT bid
US investment fund Blackstone Group has raised the stakes in its takeover bid for Equity Office Properties Trust (EOPT), the US' largest office firm, to US$38.3 billion, EOPT said on Thursday. Blackstone's offer for Chicago-based EOPT would mark the most costly US private equity transaction ever if it is successful. EOPT said Blackstone was now seeking to take it over for US$54 per EOPT share in cash, a rise of US$5.50 per share -- or 11 percent -- over Blackstone's original bid in late November. The office manager owns or has stakes in 585 office buildings located in 16 states, including the US capital of Washington.
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