■AUTOMOBILES
GM mulls selling Saab line
General Motors Co (GM) is talking to BAIC (北京汽車工業), China’s fifth-biggest car maker, about a partial sale of assets associated with its Saab brand, including tooling and technology, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions said. Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Group has made it clear that it has no interest in acquiring Saab’s production hub in Trollhattan, Sweden, according to the people who could not be named because the talks remain private. Under the proposed deal, BAIC, which lacks its own car brand, would set up production in China based on an older generation of Saab vehicles, including the 9-5 and 9-3 models, the people said. BAIC and GM both declined to comment.
■CELLPHONES
RIM expands China market
Research in Motion said yesterday it planned to expand the China market for its BlackBerry smartphone to include consumers and small businesses, amid fierce competition in the world’s biggest mobile market. Research in Motion (RIM) said in a statement it was working with China Mobile (中國移動) to introduce the handset to “professional” individuals and small and medium-sized businesses. It gave no timetable nor did it say how much they would cost. The handset will be customized to China’s home-grown third generation wireless technology, TD-SCDMA, the company said.
■DUBAI
IMF to probe Dubai World
An IMF team will visit Dubai in coming weeks to look closer at the economic impact of the Dubai World debt crisis and actions needed to resolve it, a senior IMF official said on Monday. IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia Masood Ahmed said the visit was an opportunity for the IMF to update and conclude this year’s assessment of the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock markets were buffeted yesterday by the fallout of Dubai’s debt woes, both posting fresh losses in volatile trade. The Dubai Financial Market index fell 6.39 percent to 1,633.26 points, continuing a downward spiral a day after the market dropped 5.84 percent.
■RESOURCES
Xstrata restructures nickel
Mining group Xstrata is taking a US$1.9 billion charge for restructuring its nickel business after metal prices fell, and is taking further charges of US$545 million for copper smelting operations in Canada and Chile, it said yesterday. “The impairments announced today reflect the structural changes made to our nickel business during 2009, together with the very significant impact of short and medium term currency movements, which have resulted in an exceptional impairment charge against Xstrata’s nickel assets,” chief executive Mick Davis said. The price of nickel has rebounded this year by 75 percent to about US$15,700 per tonne, but is still a fraction of its 2007 peak of US$51,650.
■RETAIL
Tesco sales grow slowly
Tesco PLC, the world’s third largest retailer, yesterday reported a 5.7 percent increase in sales in its third quarter, lower than analysts expected. In the 13 weeks ending on Nov. 28, Tesco said sales excluding gasoline were up 6.6 percent on a constant currency basis. Sales outside the company’s UK base rose 5.4 percent at constant exchange rates and 12 percent at actual exchange rates. Without adjusting for currency fluctuations, Tesco said total group revenue was up 7.7 percent, or 8.8 percent excluding gasoline.
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