■TRADE
Lamy slams protectionism
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy yesterday called for collective discipline to stem the spread of protectionism during the global slump, citing “Buy American” provisions in the US stimulus package. “If you hit imports, your exports will be hit,” Lamy told a forum in Seoul. “Protectionist pressure is there even though we know isolationism or protectionism does not work for simple reasons,” he said. “Without collective disciplines which the US has to subscribe to in the government procurement agreement in WTO, the ‘Buy American’ act would probably have been much more worse for US partners,” Lamy said.
■BANKING
US ignoring Swiss law: UBS
Banking giant UBS has accused the US government of ignoring Swiss sovereignty and forcing its employees to break the law, as lawyers seek to fend off a US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fraud probe into the firm. The comments come after the US government filled lawsuit on Thursday to force the firm to disclose the identities of as many as 52,000 US customers who allegedly evaded taxes. “The IRS petition does not acknowledge these restrictions and instead simply ignores the existence of Swiss law and sovereignty,” the firm’s lawyers said in a response to the filing. The US request is part of a long-running battle over banking secrecy in which UBS admitted to tax fraud and provisionally agreed to pay US$780 million in settlement charges. It is estimated that the accounts contain around US$14.8 billion.
■BANKING
SFCG files for bankruptcy
A Japanese corporate money-lender said yesterday it had filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of more than US$3.6 billion, blaming growing bad debt and a slump in new loans. SFCG Co, which filed for protection from creditors with the Tokyo District Court, said it had liabilities of ¥338.04 billion (US$3.63 billion) as of October. The collapse of the company, which reportedly owes ¥71 billion to Citigroup, is Japan’s largest corporate bankruptcy this year, private credit research company Teikoku Databank said. “The company suffered extremely severe financial conditions due to a growth of bad loans and a slump in new loans,” SFCG said in a statement.
■TELECOMS
Vodafone planning layoffs
Vodafone Group PLC, the world’s largest mobile-phone company, plans to cut hundreds of jobs in the UK to reduce costs and protect earnings amid the economic slowdown, two people with direct knowledge of the plan said. The company plans to make the announcement today, said the two, who declined to be identified because the plans are confidential. The jobs will be eliminated at Vodafone’s UK operations, the people said, declining to give a precise number.
■COURIERS
DHL planning China move
DHL Worldwide Express, the courier unit of Deutsche Post AG, may move some of its China departments as the global recession saps demand for freight movements. “The company is still discussing the plan,” Wendy Li, a DHL China spokeswoman, said by telephone yesterday, declining to elaborate. DHL may transfer some employees and departments to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, by November, the Securities Times said yesterday, citing unidentified people close to the matter.
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