■JAPAN
Orix, Credit Saison mull link
Japanese financial firms Orix and Credit Saison said yesterday they were constantly discussing business tie-ups as the Nikkei Shimbun reported they were in merger talks to become a major nonbank financial group. Orix Corp, Japan’s major leasing and financial services company, and consumer finance company Credit Saison Co are negotiating to merge by late next year, the paper said without naming its sources. The merger would create a nonbank financial group with total assets of ¥11.5 trillion (US$106.3 billion), with Orix’s services mainly for business customers complemented by Saison strong in consumer finance, the paper said.
■ENTERTAINMENT
Sony to fully own Sony BMG
Bertelsmann AG will sell its 50-percent stake in Sony BMG to Sony Corp, the companies have announced, giving the Japanese company full ownership of the joint venture. In a statement released yesterday by the privately held Bertelsmann, the new company will be called Sony Music Entertainment Inc and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp of America. Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski said the decision was made to sell the stake after a careful but thorough review.
■NEW ZEALAND
Economy now in recession
New Zealand has slipped into recession after two quarters of negative economic growth, the Treasury said yesterday. Figures for the second quarter are not due for release until next month, but Treasury’s review of economic indicators last month sees a second straight quarterly contraction — the technical definition of recession. “Following recent data releases, we consider the economy contracted in June 2008, its second consecutive quarterly decrease,” the Treasury said. It said growth would likely be stagnant for three months but would pick up in the quarter ending Dec. 31 in response to forecast tax cuts, recovery from drought, higher prices, a weakening New Zealand dollar and reductions in the official cash rate, currently 8 percent.
■OIL
Prices dip below US$120
World oil prices fell below US$120 a barrel yesterday, a day after hitting the trough for the first time for three months, as slowing US demand for energy offsets tensions over crude-rich Iran, traders said. Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month dropped by US$1.60 a barrel to US$119.08 in electronic trading. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for next month shed US$1.40 to US$120.01 a barrel. Oil prices fell below US$120 on Monday for the first time since early May after US economic indicators emphasized weakness in the world’s biggest economy, dealers said.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Intel drops ‘Larrabee’ hints
Intel on Monday revealed details of a new generation of chips designed for video game lovers, multi-taskers and people seeking power-sipping computers adapted to increasingly mobile lifestyles. The world’s largest chip maker provided a glimpse of “multi-core” computer processing technology code-named “Larrabee” that it plans to showcase next week at an industry conference in Los Angeles. Intel is to release in a first wave of Larrabee chips with 16 to 48 cores and tailored for handling game graphics either next year or 2010. Multi-core chips cut energy use and heat while speeding performance by dividing tasks between cores. Portions of programs run simultaneously in a style referred to as “parallel computing.”
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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