■AUTOMOTIVE
LG to supply Volkswagen
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea’s second-biggest electronics maker, signed an agreement for US$370 million to supply car audio systems to Volkswagen AG for seven years from 2012. LG will supply the systems to Volkswagen’s three brands in Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic, the Seoul-based company said in a statement yesterday. The deal is a result of the collaboration between LG and Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, since 2007 in automobile audio systems, LG said.
■AUTO PARTS
SK Energy to make batteries
SK Energy Co, South Korea’s biggest oil refiner, will supply car batteries to Daimler AG’s Japanese unit Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. SK Energy was selected to supply lithium-ion batteries for Mitsubishi Fuso’s gasoline-electric vehicles on Saturday, the Seoul-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement, without providing financial details. The agreement “would enable SK Energy to participate in various hybrid and electric vehicles projects of Daimler as a preferred supplier,” the company said in the statement.
■BANKING
Beijing bank plans IPO
Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行), the nation’s fourth-biggest lender by assets, is planning a public share sale as soon as possible, bank president Zhang Yun (張雲) said at a financial forum in Shanghai. “Agricultural Bank of China is actively preparing for an IPO and will try to achieve an IPO as early as possible,” Zhang said yesterday. The Beijing-based bank in May raised 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) in the nation’s biggest corporate bond sale to boost capital and help pave the way for an initial public offering.
■REAL ESTATE
HK watches for bubble
Hong Kong’s government will “closely” monitor the local property market and will introduce measures to ensure its stability if necessary. “The government noted that the relatively small number of residential flats completed and the record prices attained in certain transactions this year have caused concern about the supply of flats, difficulty in purchasing a home and the possibility of a property bubble,” a statement on the government’s Web site said yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority tightened down-payment requirements for luxury homes on Friday for the first time since 1991 to curtail property speculation after record-low interest rates fueled a surge in prices this year.
■SHIPPING
DP World to lease building
DP World Ltd, the Middle East’s biggest port operator, signed an agreement to purchase a long-term lease on its office building in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai with group company Economic Zones World FZE. The transaction value “has not been disclosed due to its non-material nature,” the Dubai government-controlled port company said in a statement to NASDAQ Dubai yesterday.
■RAILWAYS
Union votes for strike
South Korean railway workers have voted to strike to press for higher wages and better working conditions, company officials and union leaders said yesterday. The 24,600-strong union of Korea Railway Corp, the country’s railway monopoly, said 76.58 percent of 23,344 voting members were in favor of the industrial action at the vote that ended on Friday.
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