■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota unveils Sai hybrid
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Toyota Motor Corp yesterday unveiled a new hybrid luxury sedan, the “Sai,” aiming to keep its pole position in environmentally friendly vehicles. The Sai, which will go on sale only in Japan on Dec. 7, is a compact sedan with a 2.4-liter engine and fuel economy of 23kpl, against 38kpl for the third-generation Prius. It is the second Toyota-brand vehicle that is available only as a hybrid, after the Prius. The Sai will have a price tag starting from ¥3.38 million (US$37,225), against ¥2.05 million for the Prius, the company said. Toyota aims to sell some 3,000 Sai vehicles a month.
■LABOR
Adecco to buy MPS
The world’s biggest recruitment agent, Adecco, said yesterday it would strengthen its position in North America and Britain by buying its US peer MPS Group for 782 million euros (US$1.17 billion). Chief executive Patrick De Maeseneire said in a statement that the move, to be completed early next year, would give Adecco “the worldwide lead in professional staffing” with clients in the US, Canada and Britain. The company aims to strengthen its “higher margin professional staffing business” by acquiring MPS’s recruitment operations in specialized areas such as information technology, accounting, law and engineering, he said.
■BANKING
Lloyds sells unit
Lloyds Banking Group PLC said yesterday it has agreed to sell its Bank of Scotland Portfolio Management Service and two private client portfolios to Rathbone Brothers PLC in a deal worth up to £35.4 million (US$58.4 million). The proposed transaction would transfer around 6,000 customers with a total of around £1.27 billion of funds under management to Rathbones, subject to client consent. The price of £35.4 million assumes that all affected investors will agree to transfer their accounts to Rathbone Brothers.
■MANUFACTURING
Li & Fung buys US firm
Li & Fung Ltd (利豐), the biggest supplier of clothes and toys to Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, said its purchase of a US company that holds licenses for the Calvin Klein and Disney labels is the first of several planned. Li & Fung said it will pay as much as US$401.8 million, or US$101.8 million in cash and up to US$300 million over five years based on performance for New York-based Wear Me Apparel LLC’s operations related to children’s clothing and accessories, and men’s apparel. Wear Me designs and manufactures clothing sold at chains including Macy’s Inc and Wal-Mart.
■INVESTMENT
Icahn offers CIT a loan
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered a US$6 billion loan on Monday to ailing lending giant CIT Group, calling it an alternative to a plan he said favors large bondholders. Icahn made the offer in a letter to the board of CIT, which has been on the brink of bankruptcy since the US government declined to provide a bailout earlier this year. Icahn, who has made a name for himself as a corporate raider, said the CIT board was “shamelessly offering certain large unsecured bondholders the opportunity to purchase US$6 billion in secured loans in the company at well below fair market value.”
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