■ BANKING
Chinese buy UCBH stake
China Minsheng Banking Corp (中國民生銀行) said yesterday it will pay up to US$317 million for a 9.9 percent stake in UCBH Holdings Inc, the NASDAQ-listed parent company of US-based United Commercial Bank. The Beijing-based mid-sized lender announced the deal, its first overseas acquisition, in a notice to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The deal requires approval from both China's banking regulator and US authorities, Minsheng Bank said. "The deal will help Minsheng Bank realize its international strategy," the bank said in the notice. San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings likewise has also been seeking to expand its business in China.
■ BANKING
Funds eye Northern Rock
US investment funds Apollo Management and Blackstone have shown interest in buying out the crisis-hit British bank Northern Rock, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The two firms showed interest separately last week, the paper said, citing people close to the matter. It said the takeover approaches could prompt an auction for the ailing British lender. Two other US firms have reportedly been in detailed talks with the troubled bank: J.C. Flowers & Co and Cerberus, the paper said.
■ LABOR
Postal workers strike again
Postal workers started a second 48-hour strike yesterday as a dispute over pay and restructuring remained unresolved. Postal staff belonging to the Communication Workers Union walked out at 3am after weekend talks with management failed to break a long-standing deadlock. A similar strike was staged last week. Royal Mail employees have staged four national strikes and other forms of industrial action since the summer, when they rejected a 2.5 percent pay increase and the Royal Mail's modernization plans, which the union claims would cut 40,000 jobs.
■ AVIATION
Air India plans IPO
State-owned Air India will likely unload 15 percent of its equity in an initial public offering (IPO) when its merger with Indian Airlines is completed, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday. V. Thulasidas, chairman of the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), the airlines' new parent company, said the government would make the final decision on the size of the IPO. But he told reporters his "personal view" was that NACIL would dispose of 15 percent of its equity, the Press Trust said. The government has said it is merging the two airlines in a bid to create a "world-class airline" that can compete globally and domestically.
■ TRADE
Chavez rethinks CAN
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Caracas is considering rejoining the Andean Community (CAN) because leftist leaders in Bolivia and Ecuador who have resisted free-trade deals with the US could help to transform the regional bloc. Chavez, who pulled Venezuela out of the five-nation bloc last year after Peru and Colombia signed trade pacts with the US, said on his weekly broadcast program that he was studying "the possible path toward a new Andean Community." But he insisted the bloc should become "Bolivarian" -- a reference to his anti-US political movement named after 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar. "Changes in the CAN are necessary," he 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