■ FINANCE
China issues warning
China's stock regulator has warned companies against "malicious money grabbing," urging them to take investor demand into account when drawing up plans for raising funds through share offerings. The China Securities Regulatory Commission's statement, carried on the front pages of many newspapers yesterday, came after share prices dropped to a seven-month low on Monday amid mounting apprehension over a slew of new share offerings. "Listed companies should consider market conditions, investor sentiment and their own funding needs before deciding the timing and size of refinancing," the commission said.
■ INTERNET
Cable under construction
A group of six international companies, including Google, is building a US$300 million underwater fiber optic cable linking the US and Japan. The trans-Pacific 10,000km broadband cable system called Unity will respond to the expected growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the US, the companies said in a statement on Monday. The project is set to be up and running in the first quarter of 2010. Construction begins immediately, according to Unity. The cable will connect Chikura, near Tokyo, with Los Angeles and other US West Coast points, and the system connects to other Asian cable systems via Chikura, the companies said.
■ COMPUTERS
IBM rolls out mainframe
IBM Corp rolled out a new mainframe computer yesterday boasting a 50 percent performance boost and dramatically lower energy costs than its predecessor. The new System z10, with a starting price at about US$1 million, comes as IBM focuses on lowering the price tag for running its storied line of data-crunching workhorses. The Armonk, New York-based company said it designed the new machine to help companies and government agencies that rely on mainframes -- usually for critical data processing such as bank transactions or census statistics crunching -- save money on energy bills and better handle a flood of Internet information.
■ MANUFACTURING
Carlyle eyes glass venture
Carlyle Group, the US private equity company with US$75.6 billion under management, may buy a majority stake in a joint venture between Nippon Sheet Glass Co and Hoya Corp, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Carlyle is seeking a controlling interest in NH Techno Glass Corp, a venture that makes glass compounds used in liquid-crystal display television panels, the person said, declining to be identified as the parties haven't reached an agreement.
■ FINANCE
Islamic banking growing
Islamic banking and finance, which respects Shariah laws banning usury, is growing fast and will continue to do so, the Moody's Investors Service said yesterday. It said the Islamic finance market had grown 15 percent in each of the past three years, with global volumes at US$97.3 billion by the end of last year. The market has shown no sign of slowing down, reflecting in part the huge revenues the Middle East states are generating from their oil and gas exports, it said. Islamic banking fuses principles of Shariah or Islamic law and modern banking.
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