■TAKEOVERS
Westpac eyes St George
St George, Australia’s fifth-largest bank, agreed to a revised A$17.3 billion (US$14.4 billion) takeover proposal by larger rival Westpac Banking Corp yesterday, in what would be the biggest banking acquisition in Australian history. In a joint statement, the Sydney-based banks said the takeover was approved by Grant Samuel, an independent expert hired by St George to analyze the bid. Samuel called the offer “fair and reasonable and in the best interests of St George shareholders,” the statement said. St George’s shareholders would receive an additional special dividend of A$0.28 per share, worth A$160 million in total.
■INVESTMENT
Nomura sells bonds
Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan’s biggest investment bank, sold ¥108.4 billion (US$998 million) in three-year bonds to retail investors, the company said in a statement yesterday. The bonds carry a coupon of 1.26 percent and were sold at par. The debt was rated AA- by Rating and Investment Information Inc, and AA by Japan Credit Rating Agency Ltd. It was the biggest retail bond sale in Japan since Citigroup Inc sold ¥186.5 in samurai bonds to individuals on June 12.
■MINING
BHP resumes operations
Resources giant BHP Billiton said yesterday it has resumed iron ore mining operations in Western Australia after they were shut down when two workers were killed in separate accidents. The miner closed operations at all mines in the vast state on Thursday after an employee of HWE Mining died at the Yandi mine in the resource-rich Pilbara region following a collision between a light vehicle and a haul truck. It was the second fatality at Yandi, which is operated by HWE Mining on behalf of BHP Billiton Iron Ore, in under two weeks.
■ECONOMY
Finnish growth up 2.8%
Finland’s economic growth accelerated to an annual 2.8 percent in the second quarter as rising wages boosted domestic demand. Growth picked up from a revised 2.3 percent in the previous three months, the slowest pace in more than two years, Statistics Finland said on its Web site yesterday. The median forecast of three economists in a Bloomberg survey was for growth of 3 percent. From the previous quarter, GDP rose 0.8 percent, compared with a revised 0.3 percent in the previous three months. “Consumption has been surprisingly strong in the second quarter compared with other European countries,” Eero Lehto, chief economist at the Labor Institute for Economic Research, said in a telephone interview.
■AVIATION
Passenger traffic up
Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, said passenger traffic rose 2.8 percent last month, led by travel to the Americas. The load factor, or proportion of seats filled, declined 1.6 percentage points to 83.7 percent, as capacity rose 4.7 percent, Paris-based Air France-KLM said in a statement yesterday. The number of passengers rose 1 percent to 6.8 million. Traffic growth accelerated from July, when the increase was 1.8 percent. Unlike SkyTeam partner Delta Air Lines Inc or British Airways Plc, both of which are reducing capacity, Air France is adding seats, though by less than planned. It will restrict capacity increases in the October-to-April winter schedule and next summer to 2 percent.
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