■TRADE
Seoul passes India pact
South Korea yesterday ratified a free trade deal with India that promises to slash tariffs on goods and services between two of Asia’s biggest economies. The agreement was passed in a vote by the National Assembly, two officials in the body’s secretariat said. An official vote tally was to be released later in the day, they said. The two countries signed the deal, known officially as a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, in August in Seoul.
■HOTELS
Hyatt IPO raises US$950m
Hyatt Hotels shares surged on Thursday, raising almost US$1 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) despite the tourism industry crisis, in Wall Street’s second largest flotation this year. The leading US hotel chain offered38 million shares at US$25 each for a total of US$950 million. The Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels, which is 85 percent owned by the wealthy Pritzker family, became the 18th company to launch an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange this year. Hyatt operates hotels in 45 countries.
■STEEL
POSCO building in Turkey
South Korean steelmaker POSCO said yesterday it had begun building a plant in Turkey to produce steel for automobiles. The plant, when completed by June, will have an annual capacity of 170,000 tonnes of steel for automakers that include Ford, Renault, Fiat, Hyundai Motor, Toyota and Honda, POSCO said in a statement. The company, the world’s fourth largest steelmaker by output, currently has 41 steel processing facilities in 12 countries.
■BANKING
Credit still tight: bank head
Bank of America Corp on Thursday said the credit environment would remain difficult into next year, as unemployment was likely to continue to rise. Brian Moynihan, head of the bank’s consumer and small business banking units, told investors that Bank of America was starting to see some stabilization in the credit card business, but challenges remained. In the third quarter, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America lost more than US$2.2 billion as loan losses kept rising, providing evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills.
■FINANCE
Fannie Mae posts huge loss
US state-controlled mortgage lender Fannie Mae posted on Thursday another multibillion-dollar quarterly loss and said it needed an additional US$15 billion in taxpayer funds. Fannie Mae reported a net loss of US$18.9 billion in the third quarter, 35 percent smaller than a year ago but sharply higher than its US$14.8 billion loss in the second quarter. Combined losses to date stand at US$56.8 billion.
■TELECOMS
Droid hits markets
A Motorola Droid smartphone based on Google-backed software hit the US market yesterday, taking aim at mobile device powerhouses such as Apple, Nokia, and Research In Motion (RIM). Droid, which will work on the Verizon telecom network, joins growing ranks of smartphones based on an open-source operating system backed by Internet titan Google. Market tracking firm Gartner predicted that there would be at least 40 models of Android phones within a year, and that they would be the second place mobile platform by the end of 2012.
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