■FINANCE
Banks acting ‘too slowly’
Governments the world over are acting too slowly when it comes to cleaning up their banks’ balance sheets, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was quoted as saying on Sunday. “In Germany, other European countries or in the US, everywhere, we are being too slow to deal with this topic,” Strauss-Kahn said in an interview with business daily Handelsblatt’s edition yesterday. It was more important to find a way of helping banks rid themselves of their toxic assets, he said, than pumping money into the economy through economic stimulus packages. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to hold a crunch meeting today to thrash out a plan to remove toxic assets from banks — an issue that has become a political hot potato in Europe’s largest economy with an election looming. Strauss-Kahn said he saw no pick-up in the global economy until the second half of next year and played down the risk of inflation in the wake of massive stimulus packages being implemented by almost all major economies.
■ENERGY
Oil futures prices slide
Oil prices fell in Asian trade yesterday because of sluggish energy demand in the recession-hit US, analysts said. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for next month delivery, fell US$0.87 to US$49.46 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery tumbled US$0.78 cents to US$52.57. Traders said the market was taking notice of a large build-up in US energy stockpiles, which suggests demand remains weak in the world’s biggest economy. Yesterday’s fall in prices was “probably a delayed reaction to the inventory data that came out last week, which was really, really bearish,” said Tony Nunan, a risk management manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo. The US Department of Energy said last Wednesday that crude stocks surged 5.6 million barrels in the week ending April 10 to reach 366.7 million barrels — the highest level since September 1990. “Fundamentally we have a demand problem in the world, including the US,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Bart Melek.
■BEVERAGES
PepsiCo to buy bottlers
PepsiCo Inc will acquire two of its largest anchor bottlers, The Pepsi Bottling Group at a value of US$29.50 per share and PepsiAmericas for US$23.27 per share. The deal is valued at about US$6 billion. Meanwhile, the beverage company said its first-quarter earnings per share rose to US$0.72 from US$0.70 a year earlier and reaffirmed its guidance for the current year in a PR Newswire release.
■BANKING
UBS AG sells business
Troubled banking giant UBS AG sold its Brazilian business yesterday for about US$2.5 billion to BTG Investments in an effort to reduce risk and streamline its operations. Switzerland’s largest bank, which is cutting thousands of jobs as a result of billions in losses over the past two years through bad investments, said the transaction would result in a “small loss” when quarterly results are published next month. The sale of UBS Pactual is still subject to regulatory approval and will combine cash and the assumption of debt, the bank said. It is expected to be completed in the middle of the year. “The sale of the Brazilian business is consistent with UBS’s policy to continue to reduce its risk profile, strengthen its balance sheet and sharpen its business focus,” UBS said. “UBS expects no disruption to its other businesses as a result of the transaction.”
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