■ AUTOMOBILES
VW expands Scania stake
Volkswagen (VW), Europe’s biggest carmaker, said yesterday it had obtained regulatory approvals to take a majority voting stake in Swedish truck maker Scania. “The majority voting stake is expected to be acquired on July 22,” in a deal that will cost VW around 2.8 billion euros (US$4.4 billion), a statement said. EU officials had approved the deal on June 13, but VW still needed various national authorities to stamp it as well. VW will increase its share of voting rights in Scania from 37.98 percent to 68.60 percent, while its shareholding is to rise from 20.89 percent to 37.73 percent, it said.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita mulls new plant
Japan’s Matsushita Electric said yesterday it was considering building a new factory for lithium-ion batteries to expand market share amid stiff competition and growing demand. Lithium-ion batteries, which are rechargeable and have high storage capacity, are used in computers and other electronics and have increasingly been put to use in the automotive and aerospace industries. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, best known for its Panasonic brand, will spend more than ¥100 billion (US$952 million) on the plant to open as soon as 2010 in the Osaka region, Japanese media reported. A Matsushita spokesman said only that the company “is studying various growth strategies in our electrical business but currently nothing has been decided.”
■ FINANCE
Daiwa eyes Brazilian link
Japan’s Daiwa Securities Group Inc will tie up in brokerage operations with a leading Brazilian private bank, the Banco Itau group, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. In the first full-scale tie-up between a Japanese brokerage and a major Brazilian financial group, the partnership will cover such areas as investment banking operations and the handling of buy and sell orders for stocks, the business daily reported. The two banks were to announce later yesterday that they had reached a basic agreement, which may evolve into a capital tie-up in the future, the report said.
■ APPLIANCES
Electrolux reports drop
Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux yesterday reported a strong drop in second-quarter results this year, citing weaker sales in North America and Western Europe. The group posted a pre-tax profit of 140 million kronor (US$23 million), down some 80 percent from a pre-tax profit of 752 million kronor for the corresponding period last year. Net sales were 25.58 billion kronor, down 0.8 percent, with the figure partly affected by exchange rates. Chief executive Hans Straberg said that Electrolux had lowered its outlook for the full year. The group expected an operating income of 3.3 to 3.9 billion kronor excluding items affecting comparability, he said.
■ TRAVEL
Asiatravel forecasts growth
Online hotel reservation service provider Asiatravel.com forecast yesterday that it would maintain room-bookings growth despite a drop in Asia-bound traffic from major markets. It plans to launch Web sites in Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese and Arabic, a statement said. It has also been expanding its services. Customers can book flights as well as hotel and flight packages departing from 10 countries. By the end of this year, Asiatravel.com’s customers will be able to purchase combined hotel and flight packages for all key countries in Asia.
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