■CHEMICALS
BASF to invest in Asia
The German chemical giant BASF said yesterday it would invest 2 billion euros (US$2.9 billion) by 2013 in the Asia-Pacific region to double its sales there by 2020. The group also said it would hire at least 5,000 new staff, bringing its total in the area to around 20,000, and generate 70 percent of its sales from local production. “The current economic situation does not change our positive expectations of the long-term potential of these dynamic markets,” a statement quoted BASF regional director Martin Brudermueller as saying.
■ELECTRONICS
Toshiba plans relocations
Toshiba Corp, Japan’s biggest memory chipmaker, plans to relocate as many as 700 engineers by next month to help cut semiconductor research spending. The measure is part of the company’s plan to cut development costs and help the chip operations return to profit in the current fiscal year. Toshiba said last month it aimed to cut research spending to ¥1 trillion (US$11 billion) over the three years to March 2012, from ¥1.17 trillion the previous three year period.
■BANKING
UBS keeping Paine Webber
UBS AG’s US wealth management unit Paine Webber is not a core part of the bank’s operations, but will not be sold at present, UBS chief executive Oswald Gruebel was quoted as saying in the Financial Times (FT). “We’ve had a lot of inquiries from potential buyers but it wouldn’t make sense to sell at current valuations,” Gruebel said, according to a report in yesterday’s FT. Gruebel also told the FT the bank wanted to cut ties with the Swiss government by buying its way out of a “bad bank” deal and aimed to return to health within a year.
■BANKING
BNP Paribas raising funds
BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank, said it would raise 4.3 billion euros (US$6.3 billion) in a rights offer to help repay government funds. BNP Paribas is offering existing investors 107.6 million shares at 40 euros each, or 29 percent below Monday’s closing price, the Paris-based bank said yesterday. The company will repay 5.1 billion euros it received from the French state as well as 226 million euros of interest, it said. After paying back the government, BNP Paribas’ tier-one capital ratio, an indicator of financial strength, will be above 9 percent, the company said.
■ECONOMY
British GDP contracts
The British economy contracted 0.6 percent in the second quarter compared with output in the first three months of the year, an improvement on the previous estimate of minus 0.7 percent, official data showed yesterday. GDP shrank 5.5 percent between April and June in recession-hit Britain, compared with activity in the second quarter of last year, unchanged from the previous estimate made last month, the Office for National Statistics said.
■ECONOMY
Russia cuts benchmark rate
Russia will cut its main refinancing rate by half a point to 10.0 percent, the country’s Central Bank said yesterday, in its latest bid to stimulate the country’s economy. The bank’s directors “decided to lower the Central Bank’s refinancing rate by 0.5 points to 10 percent, starting on Sept. 30,” the bank said in a statement. The decision was motivated by “the need for additional stimulation of economic activity,” it added.
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