■INSURANCE
AIG mulls options
Troubled US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) may take its casualty insurance unit public and sell a 20 percent stake, to raise billions of dollars to pay back public funds, a report said yesterday. AIG, taken over last year by the US government in a US$170 billion rescue from the financial crisis, is considering listing AIU Holdings, AIU’s vice-chairman Nicholas Walsh told the Nikkei Shimbun economics daily. “Because of what has happened to our parent company, we have to go on an independent track,” Walsh said. “It would be reasonable to conclude that a US listing was probably the most likely outcome.” The Nikkei said the specific timing would be decided later.
■AUSTRALIA
Business confidence jumps
Australian business confidence posted its largest quarterly jump in more than 30 years in the three months to this month as optimism grows over an economic recovery, a survey released yesterday said. Business confidence surged from minus 61 points to minus 4 in the quarter, its highest level since late 2007 and the largest quarterly turnaround since 1975, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Westpac Bank survey found. Westpac chief economist Bill Evans was cautious about the result of the 273-firm survey, saying that a simultaneous study of business conditions showed a modest rise of 3.9 points to 38.3. A business conditions reading below 50 indicates that more of the companies surveyed contracted than expanded, while a confidence reading below zero means more are pessimistic than optimistic about the future.
■ELECTRONICS
IBM chip alliance grows
Japanese electronics companies Toshiba Corp and NEC Electronics Corp agreed to join an IBM Corp alliance to expand development of next-generation chips, Toshiba said yesterday. The project involves technologies for faster processing speed and lower-battery life for smartphones and other communication devices, the companies said. Advanced chips for large-scale integration circuits for the 28-nanometer (nm) generation will “dramatically enhance the product’s density, performance, as well as power consumption compared to the former 40nm node,” NEC Electronics senior vice president Masao Fukuma said in a statement. Toshiba aims to mass produce and market products using the 28-nanometer technology in fiscal 2010, a company official said.
■AVIATION
China Eastern to buy A320s
China Eastern Airlines, one of the country’s top three carriers, said yesterday it had signed an agreement with Airbus to purchase 20 A320 aircraft for delivery between 2011 and 2013. The Shanghai-based carrier did not disclose in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange how much it had agreed to pay but said it was less than the list price of 9.92 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion). The purchase reflects the company’s expectation for rising passenger demand in the domestic market, especially on short and medium-range routes, the statement said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Chrysler to restart plants
Chrysler Group LLC plans to restart seven plants at the end of this month after shutting down all of its factories during its six weeks in bankruptcy protection. The firm on Wednesday confirmed that factories in Sterling Heights and Warren, Michigan; St. Louis; Toledo, Ohio; Brampton and Windsor, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico, would restart on June 29.
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