■METALS
POSCO cuts production
South Korea’s POSCO, the world’s fourth largest steelmaker, announced yesterday its first-ever production cut to reduce rising inventory caused by a sharp fall in local demand. POSCO, which produces 2.78 million tonnes of crude steel a month, said it would reduce output by 200,000 tonnes this month and 370,000 tonnes next month. “We are cutting production for the first time since the start of our operations” in response to a sharp fall in demand from local auto and home appliance makers, it said in a statement. It said the downturn in local demand was deeper than expected, leading to a sharp increase in inventory.
■ELECTRONICS
Panasonic to buy Sanyo
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp has secured the takeover of competitor Sanyo Electric Co with deals to buy stakes in the smaller firm held by the US investment bank Goldman Sachs and two Japanese investment firms, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. Sanyo’s management threw its support last month behind the takeover, which would create one of the world’s largest consumer electronics companies. Goldman Sachs had originally refused Panasonic’s ¥130 (US$1.47) per share offer as too low, but Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs late on Wednesday. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co and Daiwa Securities SMBC Co, Sanyo’s two other major shareholders, already agreed to the deal.
■METALS
Wuhan to buy into Centrex
Australia’s Centrex Metals said yesterday that Chinese steelmaker Wuhan had agreed to pay up to A$180 million (US$126 million) for a half share in its iron ore projects. “This is a landmark, high integrity agreement with a top three steel group in China and is a company-maker for us in every sense,” Centrex chairman David Lindh said in a statement. Wuhan will also pay an additional A$9.7 million for a direct 15 percent stake in Centrex and will work with the miner on its plans for the development of a new deep water export port.
■SOUTH KOREA
Seoul plans injection
The country plans to set up a 20 trillion won (US$15.4 billion) fund to help banks raise their capital base and access cash during the credit crisis, the financial watchdog said yesterday. The move will ensure banks “will be prepared for possible losses that they could incur from a prolonged economic slowdown and restructuring [of businesses],” the Financial Services Commission said. It said the central Bank of Korea is expected to contribute up to 10 trillion won through loans, while the state-run Korea Development Bank will add 2 trillion won and the rest would come from institutional and other investors.
■AVIATION
EADS plans to protect cash
The head of the European aerospace group European Aeronautic Defense Space Company (EADS), Louis Gallois, said yesterday that “in the coming months our highest priority is to protect our cash reserves” of 9 billion euros (US$13 billion). “We will have to push back acquisitions that we might have made. We must also define priorities for our investments,” Gallois told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in an interview. He also said his group was ready to “help some airlines with the financing of their aircraft orders” to avoid cancelations and suspensions. If necessary, it would reduce output at plane-making unit Airbus.
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