■BANKING
Credit Suisse settles probe
Credit Suisse Group has agreed to pay US$536 million to settle a US Justice Department probe and admit to violating US economic sanctions by hiding the booming illegal business it was doing for Iranian banks. The Justice Department announced the settlement on Wednesday, saying it was the biggest forfeiture ever against a company for violations of that type. “Credit Suisse’s decades-long scheme to flout the rules that govern our financial institutions robbed our system of the legitimacy that is fundamental to its success,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference at department headquarters. “We cannot let this stand and today’s settlement sends a strong message that we will not let it stand.”
■INSURANCE
AIG plans to list Asian unit
Bailed-out US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) is planning to list its Asian unit in Hong Kong by the second quarter of next year in a sale that could raise as much as US$20 billion, a report said yesterday. AIG, which said in May that it planned to float American International Assurance (AIA), was expected to file a prospectus before Christmas, the Financial Times said, citing unnamed sources. If Hong Kong regulators approve the initial public offering, it could be one of the world’s largest share sales, the paper said.
■UKRAINE
Government in loan talks
Ukrainian acting Finance Minister Igor Umansky and other top financial officials were scheduled to hold talks with the IMF in Washington yesterday on a crucial loan, the Interfax news agency reported. “The officials will focus on the revision of the standby program and the budget policies of Ukraine’s government in 2009-2010,” the finance ministry said in a statement quoted by Interfax. Last week, Ukraine appealed to the IMF for a loan of about US$2 billion to overcome an “extremely difficult” financial situation. The cash would be half of the next tranche of Ukraine’s US$16.4 billion standby credit from the IMF that was agreed last year.
■MINING
Rio sells iron ore to India
Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto said yesterday it had made its first-ever iron ore sale to India, in what it called a “ground-breaking” development. The company’s iron ore chief Sam Walsh said Rio had sold a 160,000 tonne shipment to Indian steelmaker Essar for export later this month. “To me, this is a ground-breaking sale and I think it is a good signal for us and Western Australia — it is strategic for us,” Walsh told Dow Jones Newswires. Walsh said the sale, made at international spot rates, was also significant for Rio’s plans to launch iron ore operations in Orissa State, where it has a 51 percent stake in a joint venture with state-owned Orissa Mining Corp.
■AUTOMAKERS
Ssangyong thrown lifeline
South Korea’s debt-burdened Ssangyong Motor was thrown a new lifeline after a court approved a rescue plan yesterday that had recently been rejected by the automaker’s foreign creditors. Ssangyong immediately welcomed the Seoul court’s decision and said it would increase efforts to put its business back on track in the next three years by stepping up restructuring. The company’s stock price shot up 13.8 percent to 4,300 won (US$3.7) following the announcement, but the Korea Exchange suspended trading until today. The company has debts totaling 1.23 trillion won.
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