■ FINANCE
Greenspan joins hedge fund
Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is joining the hedge fund Paulson & Co as an adviser, the New York-based company said on Tuesday. Headed by John Paulson, the company said in a statement that the contract was exclusive, barring Greenspan from advising any other investment fund. Greenspan in recent months has signed similar agreements with Pacific Investment Management Corp, a bond specialist, and with the German banking giant Deutsche Bank.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ex-Mitsubishi chief guilty
A former Mitsubishi president was convicted of professional negligence yesterday in a fatal head-on crash that followed a systematic cover-up of auto defects at the Japanese automaker. Former Mitsubishi Motors Corp president Katsuhiko Kawasoe was sentenced to three years in prison suspended for five years, a Yokohama District Court official said on customary condition of anonymity. The suspended sentence means he won't have to serve time. Kawasoe and three other company officials were suspected of failing to report defects although they knew the problems could cause serious accidents. They were charged in 2004 with professional negligence resulting in death in a 2002 accident in southwestern Japan in which a driver died in a crash after the brakes failed on his Mitsubishi vehicle.
■ MORTGAGES
UK lender rejects proposal
Shareholders in Northern Rock, the ailing British mortgage lender, voted at a special meeting on Tuesday against proposals by two hedge funds that would have forced managers to seek shareholder approval for even small asset sales. The vote was a setback for the fund companies RAB Capital and SRM Global Advisers, two of Northern Rock's largest shareholders, which had hoped to obtain greater influence in the bank's future and keep it from selling assets at "knockdown fire sale prices."
■ INVESTMENTS
PRC sets up Africa fund
A Beijing-backed equity fund that aims to boost Sino-African ties has signed a first batch of investment deals worth more than US$90 million, the China Securities Journal said yesterday. The China Africa Development Fund would invest a total of US$4 billion in Sinosteel and three other Chinese companies with projects in Africa, the report said. They include a glass plant in Ethiopia with an annual production of 40,000 tonnes, a 200,000kw gas-fired power plant in Ghana, a chromite project in Zimbabwe and a building material project, it said. The fund was launched in June and had received US$1 billion from the China Development Bank.
■ METALS
Rio Tinto has record output
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said yesterday its iron ore output last year hit a record 179 million tonnes, up 9 percent on the previous year. The world's third-largest mining company, currently fighting off a takeover bid by rival BHP Billiton, said the increase in iron ore production reflected strong demand from major customers. The company said in its fourth-quarter production report it also saw strong demand in other commodities and expects its iron ore output to increase further this year as new capacity comes on stream.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
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