■ FINANCE
Northern Rock attracts bid
Businessman Jose Maria Ruiz-Mateos has offered to buy a 10 percent stake in troubled British mortgage lender Northern Rock, a spokeswoman for the Spanish entrepreneur said on Thursday. Pilar Bernal said Ruiz-Mateos had delivered the offer through letters to Northern Rock CEO Adam Applegarth and to chairman Matt Ridley. "An offer has been made for 10 percent," Bernal said by phone from London. "It's being put forward by Ruiz-Mateos personally, backed by a group of investors." Ruiz-Mateos, 76, built a business empire that included retailers, food companies and banks.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ghosn betting on China
Carlos Ghosn, head of Renault and Nissan, said yesterday that a major name among global automakers might be taken over by an emerging market rival in the coming years. "I think that Chinese, Indian or Russian manufacturers will buy established automobile groups or merge with them or sign cooperative agreements," Ghosn told the German daily Die Welt in an interview. "It's natural," he said, adding that "China is going to become one of the biggest markets in the world and it is very likely that at least one Chinese manufacturer appears on the global market. "There is no reason why an Indian automobile group should not play a global role" as well, he said.
■ BEVERAGES
Starbucks, Pepsi ink deal
Starbucks Corp, the world's largest chain of coffee shops, and PepsiCo Inc said they will expand a distribution venture, starting in China. Starbucks will sell ready-to-drink beverages through PepsiCo's distribution network, the companies said on Thursday. The accord may expand bottled Starbucks drinks to countries that don't have Starbucks stores. PepsiCo, the second-largest US soft-drink maker, distributes bottled Frappuccino coffee and DoubleShot espresso drinks through a venture with Starbucks. Starbucks operates more than 14,000 stores, 540 of them in China. The coffee chain sells bottled drinks in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan through other distributors.
■ TELECOMS
German firm to buy Orange
Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG said yesterday it has concluded a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband Internet operator Orange Netherlands from France Telecom for US$1.8 billion. Deutsche Telekom first announced the deal in June, but it did not give the purchase price then. It said yesterday that its T-Mobile Netherlands unit has concluded a contract for the acquisition. Deutsche Telekom said it expects the combination to result in savings of US$1.4 billion over the next few years.
■ JAPAN
Economy OK, minister says
Japan's economic recovery remains on track despite figures released yesterday that showed a jump in the nation's jobless rate and a continued decline in consumer prices, the economy minister said. In good news, the government said industrial production rebounded 3.4 percent last month after declining in July because of plant shutdowns after an earthquake hit north-central Japan, cutting supplies from a major auto parts maker. The jobless rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.8 percent last month from 3.6 percent a month earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 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
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