■PHARMACEUTICALS
Top firms in veterinary tie-up
Two major drug companies are uniting their animal health businesses in a deal to become the top dog in the veterinary industry. Merck & Co and France’s Sanofi-Aventis SA say they’ll jointly own the combined business, and it will have a market share of about 29 percent. That’s well ahead of the current leader, Pfizer Inc’s Fort Dodge unit, which has about 20 percent of the market. The joint venture will combine Sanofi’s Merial animal health business, the maker of the Frontline tick fighter, with Merck’s Intervet/Schering-Plough unit. Merck, of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, bought Schering-Plough in November.
■MOTORCYCLES
Honda to expand in India
Japan’s Honda Motor Co said yesterday it would build a second motorcycle factory in India, employing about 2,000 people, to meet surging demand in the fast-growing market there. The factory near Delhi is due to start operating in the second half of next year with a production capacity of 600,000 vehicles a year, said Honda, which will invest about US$100 million in the facility. Output could be doubled in the future if necessary to meet demand, a company spokesman said. Together with its existing plant, Honda’s motorcycle production capacity in India will increase to 2.2 million vehicles a year.
■INTERNET
Google testing TV service
Internet giant Google is testing a new television programming search service with Dish Network Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The newspaper, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said the service runs on TV set-top boxes using Google’s Android operating system. It said it allows users to search content from Dish, which has 14 million satellite TV subscribers, as well as Web video like YouTube and to personalize a lineup of shows. The Journal said users can search by typing on a keyboard instead of using a remote control.
■LOGISTICS
Deutsche Post narrows loss
German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post AG says its net loss for the fourth quarter narrowed to 283 million euros (US$385 million), largely because of a cost-savings program. The Bonn-based company lost more than 3 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenue for the October-December period of last year was 12 percent lower to 12.4 billion euros from 14 billion euros the year before. For the full year, the company managed to post net income of 644 million euros from a net loss of 1.7 billion euros in 2008. Revenue for the full year was 15 percent lower to 46.2 billion euros. Deutsche Post, which also owns express carrier DHL, said yesterday it expects a moderate recovery in global transport volumes this year.
■BANKING
S&P maintains Iceland rating
The overwhelming rejection by Iceland voters of a deal to repay losses of collapsed bank Icesave does not affect the country’s credit rating, Standard & Poor’s said on Monday. “In our view, the referendum outcome does not constitute an outright repudiation of Iceland’s international obligations,” S&P said in a statement. The referendum’s outcome “merely reflects overwhelming popular discontent with the financial conditions of a bilateral loan offered by the British and the Dutch to finance their claim,” it added.
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