■FINANCE
Roth calls for cooperation
Central banks around the world should coordinate more in times of crises to prevent financial groups from looking outside national boundaries for assistance, the head of Switzerland’s central bank said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times, Jean-Pierre Roth said that while such cooperation was not currently underway, it was “important to be aware of the question.” “We have to think about eliminating differences and coordinating more,” the chairman of the Swiss National Bank told the business daily. “It would be very delicate for us to have a Swiss bank that required a massive credit not knocking on our door, but knocking on the door somewhere else,” he said.
■ENERGY
Oil prices fall to US$112.39
World oil prices fell further yesterday, dragged down by worries that weaker US oil demand could spread to Europe and Japan, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, dropped US$0.48 to US$112.39 a barrel. That came on top of a US$0.90 drop in New York trade on Monday, when the price closed at US$112.87 at the end of floor trading. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell US$0.58 to US$111.36 after settling US$0.61 lower at US$111.94 a barrel on Monday in London.
■ECONOMY
UBS forecasts US recession
The US is likely to slip into recession in the coming months as the cushioning impact of sharp interest rate cuts and tax rebates wears out, UBS bank economists said yesterday. “Sharp cuts in interest rates and tax rebates have prevented the US economy from sliding into recession until now,” UBS said in a statement. “But the economists of UBS Wealth Management now expect the effects of fiscal concessions to peter out in the second half of the year, leaving the US economy facing the inevitable prospect of recession.” Real economic growth in the US is expected to reach 1.3 percent this year, but just 1.0 percent next year.
■TECHNOLOGY
Softbank to buy from Casio
Softbank Corp, Japan’s third-largest mobile-phone operator, said yesterday it will buy handsets from Casio Computer Co. Softbank, based in Tokyo, will start selling the phones by the end of this year, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. A joint venture between Casio and Hitachi Ltd will make the handsets, they said. Casio, the maker of mobile phones equipped with Exilim camera technology, already supplies KDDI Corp, the second-ranked wireless operator in Japan.
■HONG KONG
Tom Group falls to HK$0.36
Tom Group Ltd, the media company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), fell to a record in Hong Kong trading after saying its first-half loss widened. Tom Group declined 6.4 percent to HK$0.36 (US$0.046) at 10:12am on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the lowest since the company moved its listing to the main board from the Growth Enterprise Market in August 2004. The net loss expanded to HK$547 million (US$70 million), from a restated HK$85 million a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell to HK$1.33 billion from HK$1.35 billion. Tom Group shares have declined 42 percent this year, compared with a drop of 25 percent in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.
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