■TELECOMS
PCCW scraps US$2.1bn bid
Hong Kong telecoms giant PCCW (電訊盈科) yesterday scrapped a US$2.1 billion bid by chairman Richard Li (李澤楷) to take the firm private after he lost a dramatic court showdown with the city’s regulators. Li said he was “disappointed” by Wednesday’s appeal court ruling but added the case had become a burden to the company and “unnecessarily divisive to society.” “From a commercial perspective and taking into account the company’s interests ... the privatisation proposal will now lapse,” he said in a statement.
■INTERNET
eBay posts drop in profits
Online auction site eBay posted a 22-percent decline in profits on Wednesday as the slump in online sales hit its revenue. The company said that income fell to US$357.1 million, compared with US$459.7 million a year ago. Revenue slumped 8 percent to US$2.02 billion as the value of the goods it sold through its auction business dropped 16 percent to US$10.8 billion. The firm’s internet telephony business Skype posted US$153 million in revenue in the first quarter, a 21-percent gain over the same quarter a year ago. Ebay’s Internet payments unit Paypal recorded strong growth, with revenue increasing 11 percent to US$643 million and net total payment volume rising 10 percent to US$15.86 billion.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota ahead of Volkswagen
Toyota Motor said yesterday it had sold about 1.76 million vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, staying ahead of Germany’s Volkswagen in the race to be this year’s top selling automaker. Toyota suffered a 26.7 percent drop in sales in the three months through last month from a year earlier, company spokesman Paul Nolasco said. But the company managed to easily keep its lead over Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, which on Wednesday reported global sales of 1.35 million vehicles in the first quarter, down 15.7 percent from a year earlier.
■MINING
Minmetals bid approved
Australia yesterday approved a revised takeover offer from China’s Minmetals (五礦集團) for debt-laden miner OZ Minerals worth A$1.21 billion (US$850 million). Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan scuttled the first bid on national security grounds last month because it included Prominent Hill copper-gold mine in South Australia, which is located near a military rocket testing range. “Today I approve a revised application by China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co Ltd to acquire certain mining assets of OZ Minerals Ltd, but not including the Prominent Hill mine, conditional on legally enforceable undertakings,” he said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Seoul approves injection
South Korea said yesterday it had agreed with banks to provide a multimillion-dollar cash injection for contractors working for the local unit of US auto giant General Motors (GM). The GM Daewoo contractors, as well as those of local firm Ssangyong Motors, will receive a total of 240 billion won (US$178 million) from today, the Grand National Party said.
■FOOD SAFETY
Chinese meat recalled
A major Chinese meat processor has recalled 100 boxes of luncheon meat containing a banned chemical, media reported yesterday. China Yurun Food Group destroyed the products, made of unspecified minced meat, the National Business Daily said, citing the provincial quality watchdog and an unnamed Yurun official.
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