■BEVERAGES
Foreigners eye Coke bid
Foreign firms are keeping a close watch on the fate of Coca-Cola’s bid for Chinese juice producer Huiyuan (匯源) as suspicions about economic nationalism increase, a European business group said yesterday. “Economic nationalism appears to be a growing concern,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce, at the launch of the 2008 European Business in China Position Paper in Beijing. “Of course, M&A [merger and acquisition] is a very difficult point,” he said. “Therefore we do watch the ongoing Coca-Cola Huiyuan case very closely to see if that is done by the law.”
■SHIPBUILDING
South Korea tops orders
South Korean yards won half of the world’s shipbuilding orders in the first half of this year, strengthening the country’s dominance in the industry, the government said yesterday. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the shipbuilding industry said yards secured orders for 12.4 million compensated gross tonnes, or 50.6 percent of the world total. It said overall global demand fell sharply compared with last year, but the proportion of orders won by local companies increased. Last year South Korea secured 38.9 percent of all orders placed against 37.3 percent for its main rival China. In the first half China’s share dipped to 34.3 percent.
■ENERGY
BG admits defeat
British gas firm BG Group conceded yesterday that its hostile bid for Australia’s Origin Energy would fail because it would not raise its offer after Origin teamed up with US oil giant ConocoPhillips. “The price implied by this newly announced joint venture is higher than BG Group is able to justify,” BG Group chief executive Frank Chapman said in a statement. “We have therefore decided not to extend or amend our offer, which we expect will now lapse” when its term expires on Sept. 26.
■FINANCE
IMF deputy backs takeover
The US government’s move to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will help shore up the housing market, the banking system and the wider economy, a senior IMF official said yesterday. In the text of a speech in Frankfurt, IMF first deputy managing director John Lipksy also said the two mortgage giants would need to be restructured over the longer term. “The intervention in [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] and the broader support to the mortgage market should stabilize [their] balance sheets and the funding of mortgages in the near term,” Lipsky said. “This will help underpin the US housing market, the banking system, and the broader economy.”
■ENERGY
Shell, Iraq to form venture
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed on a gas joint venture with Iraq worth up to US$4 billion, the Iraqi oil ministry and the Financial Times said yesterday. The deal, which will see the gas extracted from Iraqi fields being both sold in Iraq and abroad, will be signed next month, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. Shell will become the first Western oil group to sign a deal with Baghdad since the US-led invasion of 2003, with a venture the Financial Times estimated at about US$4 billion. Iraq’s Cabinet has agreed to the contract, which gives the state-owned Southern Oil Company 51 percent and Shell 49 percent in the venture.
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