■INSURANCE
AIG head forfeits severance
Robert Willumstad, the outgoing head of the stricken insurance company AIG, has voluntarily forfeited a US$22 million severance package after being effectively sacked from his job as part of a bail-out by the US treasury. AIG’s board decided that he was entitled to the money under his contract, which was drafted in generous terms just three months ago. But in an e-mail to his successor, Edward Liddy, he wrote: “I prefer not to receive severance while shareholders and employees have lost considerable value in their AIG shares.” AIG was kept afloat last week through an US$85 billion US treasury loan; the government will take an 80 percent stake in AIG in return.
■ENERGY
Oil price falls
Oil dropped US$3 a barrel yesterday, weighed by doubts about the US bailout plan and as investors booked profits after a historic one-day rise in the previous session. Although oil surged a day earlier on hopes the plan would support the economy and fuel demand, analysts said doubts lingered over how the package would be paid for. US crude for November fell US$3.01 to US$106.36 a barrel by 0915GMT. Brent crude for the same month was off US$3.12 to US$102.92. The November US crude contract rose nearly US$7 on Monday, while the expiring October contract, which traded up to US$25 higher, settled up 15.7 percent at US$120.92 — the biggest one-day gain on record.
■SOUTH KOREA
Businessman calls for calm
The head of a major South Korean business organization called on the government yesterday not to overreact to financial turmoil in the US by imposing unnecessary rules. “I don’t think the current developments in the United States is a sign that the government should be going back to the strong regulations it has been imposing in the Korean markets,” Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, told reporters. Sohn, who also serves as chairman of food, entertainment and shopping conglomerate CJ Corp, acknowledged that the current crisis has rocked South Korean equity and foreign exchange markets and that funding will likely get harder for South Korean businesses. He warned that South Korea’s real economy could suffer if the turmoil is not contained.
■CHINA
Home-buying drops
Interest in buying homes in Chinese cities dropped to the lowest level in almost a decade, reflecting concerns over personal incomes, state media reported yesterday. Only 13.3 percent of respondents said they planned to buy apartments in the next three months, the lowest level since 1999, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing a survey by the People’s Bank of China (中國人民銀行). The central bank said it collected responses from 20,000 people in 50 cities, but the report gave no details of how the survey was conducted. No margin of error was provided.
■INSURANCE
Ike costs US$14 billion
Hurricane Ike will cost the global insurance industry up to US$14 billion, Swiss Reinsurance Co said yesterday. Ike caused widespread damage in Cuba and the Texas Gulf coast earlier this month. Insured losses from the hurricane are estimated to be between US$7 billion and US$14 billion, the company said. Losses from Hurricane Gustav were between US$2.5 billion and US$4 billion.
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