■INSURANCE
Starr to sell AIG shares
Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s Starr International Co agreed to sell as many as 10 million shares of American International Group Inc (AIG) to UBS AG in a deal that protects the seller against declines in the stock’s value. Under the so-called variable pre-paid forward sale, Starr may turn over shares starting in 2013 and receive about US$278.2 million, the investment firm said in a regulatory filing yesterday. Greenberg, the chief executive officer of AIG for almost four decades through 2005, runs Starr, which controls about 14 million AIG shares, its filing said. That is the largest private holding of stock in the New York-based insurer, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. AIG agreed in 2008 to turn over a majority stake to the US government in exchange for a bailout that swelled to US$182.3 billion.
■GREECE
No assistance needed: PM
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone call on Sunday that Greece does not need any financial assistance at the moment, a German government spokesman said. “Chancellor Angela Merkel had a telephone conversation late this afternoon [Sunday] with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou about the current situation in the euro zone,” the spokesman said in a statement. “The Greek prime minister reaffirmed that Greece does not need any financial assistance. The chancellor reaffirmed her support for Greece’s reform policies and the determination of the EU to do everything necessary to ensure the stability of the euro zone.”
■HAITI
IADB erases Haitian debt
The governing board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) agreed yesterday to raise US$70 billion in fresh capital and erase US$479 million of Haitian debt, Colombian Finance Minister Oscar Zuluaga said. “What was agreed in the declaration ... is a capital increase of US$70 billion,” he told reporters after a meeting of governors ended. Zuluaga said the capital increase was tied to a separate move to forgive US$479 million in loans to Haiti, which is in desperate need of aid after an earthquake hit in January. The IADB lends money and provides grants to its borrowing members in the Caribbean and Latin America.
■AVIATION
UAC denies contract bid
Russia’s state-run United Aviation Corp (UAC) does not plan to bid for a US$50 billion contract to replace a US military fleet of air tankers, a company source said yesterday. John Kirkland, a Los Angeles-based attorney, had told various news media over the weekend that UAC would announce a joint venture with a US defense contractor to enter the bidding for the lucrative tanker deal against Europe’s EADS and Boeing Co.
■OIL
Prices dip to about US$80
Oil prices dipped to about US$80 a barrel in Asian trade yesterday, extending last week’s losses caused by gains in the US dollar. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, was down US$0.63 to US$80.05 a barrel. London’s Brent North Sea crude for May delivery shed US$0.42 to US$79.46 a barrel. “The market’s downward movement today is likely due to the fallout from the market’s sentiment on Friday,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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