■ MINING
ArcelorMittal raises stake
ArcelorMittal SA, the world’s largest steelmaker, said on Sunday it had increased its stake in Australian miner Macarthur Coal Ltd to just under 20 percent, days after talks on a possible takeover ended without a deal. ArcelorMittal increased its stake from 14.9 percent to 19.9 percent by paying A$212 million (US$204 million) for an extra 5 percent from Talbot Group Holdings, owned by Macarthur founder Ken Talbot. It said the purchase was in line with recent moves to secure its own supplies of key raw materials as global prices soar. Macarthur supplies more than a third of the world’s pulverized coal, which is used to heat steel furnaces.
■ TELECOMS
France Telecom drops bid
France Telecom said yesterday it was abandoning its offer to buy Nordic telecoms operator TeliaSonera, citing a failure to agree on financial conditions. “Despite favorable interest in the proposal, open dialogue with the board of TeliaSonera failed to come to an agreement on financial parameters,” it said in a French-language statement. It added that the attempt to acquire TeliaSonera was “not indispensable” in the context of its broader corporate strategy. Earlier last month, France Telecom made a preliminary offer of 33 billion euros (US$53 billion) for TeliaSonera in a bid to create the world’s fourth-biggest mobile operator.
■ INTERNET
Google, Tele Atlas sign deal
Tele Atlas, the digital mapmaking arm of TomTom NV, has signed a five year supply deal with Google Inc. Tele Atlas says the terms of the deal were not disclosed but it makes Google among its largest customers. Google was already a purchaser of maps from both Tele Atlas and its major competitor Navteq Corp, which is in the process of being acquired by Nokia Corp. The companies said yesterday the new deal will allow Google Maps and Google Earth developers and users more access to Tele Atlas map data to create new products.
■ MEDICINE
Sonic acquires Hawaii Labs
Australian medical diagnostic company Sonic Healthcare Ltd has bought Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii for US$121 million, the company announced yesterday. The deal includes Clinical Laboratories’ pathology practice, Pan Pacific Pathologists, Sonic Healthcare said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange. “The acquisition of Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii further expands Sonic’s footprint in the US laboratory market place and offers synergies with our existing operations in terms of purchasing, esoteric testing and sharing of best practice systems and laboratory protocols,” Sonic Healthcare chief executive Colin Goldschmidt said.
■ ENERGY
Gas found in Malaysia
Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company, has made a second gas discovery in the Mubarak Block, located in Pakistan’s Sindh Province, the Business Times reported, citing a company official. The finding was made by Petronas Carigali Pakistan Ltd, a unit of Petroliam that owns 57 percent of the project, at a depth of 3,780m, the report said, citing a company spokesman it did not identify. The gas flow from the Saquib-1X well was between 13.4 million and 25.2 million cubic feet a day, and between 47.5 barrels and 63.9 barrels of condensate a day, the report said. The Mubarak Block has been explored since 1999, it 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
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
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