■ ECONOMY
Financial losses soar: study
The global financial crisis could lead to US$1,600 billion in losses for financial institutes, the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung said on Sunday. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the US$400 billion previously estimated. Bridgewater expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses; something it said could exacerbate the crisis. It based its calculations on the state of risky debt-based US assets, such as mortgages, credit and credit card demands. The value of such risky assets is US$26,600 billion, the hedge fund said. The losses would amount to US$1,600 billions if these assets were valued at market rates, the paper said.
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BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola settles lawsuit
The Coca-Cola Co has agreed to pay US$137.5 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit that claimed Coke officials misrepresented or omitted information in public statements, causing the firm’s stock price to be inflated. The company did not admit any wrongdoing in settling the suit filed in US District Court in Atlanta, an agreement dated June 26 and entered last Thursday said. The court has preliminarily approved the settlement and scheduled a settlement fairness hearing for Oct. 20. The lead plaintiffs in the suit were the Carpenters Health Welfare Fund of Philadelphia & Vicinity and Local 144 Nursing Home Pension Fund. The class represented by the plaintiffs included all persons who bought Coca-Cola stock between Oct. 21, 1999 and March 6, 2000.
■INVESTMENT
Alibaba plans investment
Alibaba.com Corp, the Chinese Internet company whose biggest shareholder is Yahoo Inc, plans to invest 2 billion yuan (US$292 million) in online auction unit Taobao.com over the next five years. The spending will add to the 1.45 billion yuan invested in Taobao since the site’s creation in 2003, Hangzhou-based Alibaba said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Taobao, which lets users advertise goods for sale, is China’s biggest so-called consumer-to-consumer Internet commerce site with 67 million registered users, it said. The investment will be used to upgrade Taobao’s Web site and hire more workers.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota adding solar panels
Toyota Motor Corp plans to add solar panels to its popular Prius hybrid early next year to power the vehicle’s air conditioning, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. As part of a complete design makeover, the Prius will be fitted with rooftop solar panels on its high-end models, the daily said without naming sources. If it happens, Toyota would be the first major carmaker to use a solar power generation system on a mass-produced vehicle. Toyota declined to confirm the report. The Nikkei said the solar panels on the roof would supply part of the power needed for the vehicle’s air conditioning.
■TELECOMS
Five on trial for billing fraud
Five officials in Sweden from mobile phone operator Ericsson are suspected of defrauding several billion kronor (millions of dollars), Swedish agency TT reported on Sunday. The five suspects allegedly created false bills between 1998 and 1999 in order to escape fiscal controls. A verdict is due on Thursday and all five defendants could face jail time if found guilty, TT 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