■ELECTRONICS
Burns gets Xerox CEO job
Xerox Corp announced on Thursday that chairman Anne Mulcahy, widely credited with putting the US photocopier company back on solid ground, will step down as chief executive on July 1. Mulcahy, 56, will be replaced as chief executive by current Xerox president Ursula Burns, Xerox announced at its annual shareholders meeting in Connecticut. Burns has worked for Xerox since 1980, heading the office color and fax business and office network printing business. She was named a senior vice president in 2000 in charge of manufacturing and supply chain operations. She was named president in April 2007. As chief executive, Burns will be one of the few African-American women to hold such a senior position in a major US corporation.
■AUTOMAKERS
Magna leading Opel race
Canadian auto parts maker Magna is in pole position in the race to take over struggling General Motor’s German subsidiary Opel, a key local politician said yesterday. Magna’s offer “responds best to the needs” of the public authorities and the workers, said Roland Koch, premier of the state of Hesse, where Opel’s headquarters are situated. On the other hand, Fiat’s bid is “a long way” from what authorities had hoped for, Koch said. The third bidder in the race, RHJ International, has placed a “very interesting” offer, he said. The German government is expected to announce its preferred bidder either late yesterday or early next week.
■BANKING
HSBC acquires Bank Ekonomi
International bank HSBC Group said yesterday it has acquired nearly 89 percent of the shares in Indonesia’s PT Bank Ekonomi Raharja for US$607.5 million in cash. Through its subsidiary HSBC Asia Pacific Holdings, the company said it would now make a mandatory tender offer for the remaining Bank Ekonomi shares. The acquisition will nearly double HSBC’s presence in Indonesia to 207 outlets in 26 cities. Bank Ekonomi will continue to operate as a separate entity and remain listed on the Indonesian stock exchange, HSBC said.
■BANKING
BankUnited FSB shuttered
US regulators on Thursday shut down BankUnited FSB, an ailing Florida lender, in the largest US bank failure this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said the bank’s assets had been acquired by a newly chartered federal savings bank, BankUnited. BankUnited FSB is the 34th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the US this year and the third in Florida. The last bank to be closed in the state was Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast, Cape Coral on Feb. 13. BankUnited is the second biggest US bank failure during the current financial crisis after the collapse last July of Indymac, a California mortgage bank.
■FINANCE
Temasek defends share sale
Singapore’s Temasek defended its money-losing exit from Bank of America, saying the US-centric bank did not fit its investment criteria and the risk was perceived to be greater than the expected return. The explanation, a rarity for the state investor, came in a letter to major Singapore newspapers after the loss on Bank of America attracted fierce criticism from the usually muted pro-government local media, investors and independent blogs, which noted Bank of America shares have rallied more than 70 percent since Temasek’s exit. The losses are also expected to be discussed when parliament convenes next week.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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