■ MANUFACTURING
UK factory output drops
UK factory output dropped the most in seven months in September, a sign that the pound's appreciation to a 26-year high is hurting the UK economy. Production fell 0.6 percent, compared with a revised 0.5 percent gain in August, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.1 percent, according to the median of 30 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. UK services expanded at the slowest pace in four years last month, a survey by Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc showed. Manufacturing, which accounts for 15 percent of the UK economy, is starting to weaken as companies endure record oil prices and the pound's strength makes their goods more expensive.
■ ENERGY
Coal prices hit record high
Power-station coal prices at Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest export harbor for the fuel, rose to a record on expectations of higher demand before the Northern Hemisphere winter amid supply constraints. Coal for immediate delivery at Newcastle climbed US$5.13, or 6.7 percent, to US$82.08 a tonne in the week that ended last Friday, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. The previous record was US$76.95 a week earlier. The index has surged 24 percent since the first week of September. Firms in Australia's Hunter Valley shipped 6.3 percent less coal than targeted through Newcastle last month because of maintenance work and cargo loading constraints.
■ INSURANCE
Danish firm takes a hit
Topdanmark A/S, Denmark's second-largest insurer, may write down the value of its structured-products portfolio by 110 million kroner (US$21.4 million) in the second half following the US subprime market crisis. The insurer has written down 60 million kroner in the third quarter and may follow that up with a 50 million writedown in the last three months of the year, Ballerup, Denmark-based Topdanmark said in a statement to the Copenhagen stock exchange yesterday. Topdanmark also reiterated its forecast for net income of 1.2 billion kroner to 1.3 billion kroner this year. An increase in earnings will offset the writedowns, it said.
■ ACQUISITIONS
Delta drops Sainsbury bid
Delta (Two) Ltd dropped plans for a ?10.5 billion (US$21.9 billion) takeover of J Sainsbury Plc after the "deterioration" of credit markets made it too expensive to buy Britain's third-largest supermarket company. It is "not in the best interests of stakeholders to proceed" with the offer, Delta said yesterday in a Regulatory News Service statement. The fund said on Oct. 26 it was seeking an additional ?500 million of equity funding to finance the 600 pence-a-share bid it made in July for the 75 percent of the London-based retailer it doesn't own.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
HK may help Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland could be given a government bailout, Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma (馬時亨) was quoted as saying yesterday by the Standard. "I don't want to hear visitors saying they are seeing the same things they saw last year and lose interest in Disneyland," Ma was quoted as saying. The government had previously ruled out adding to the HK$25 billion (US$3.2 billion) it has already invested, the report 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
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