■TELECOMS
BT might face strike
British telecoms provider BT is likely to face its first industrial action in 20 years if it does not improve on a 2 percent pay-rise offer to staff, a top trade union official told BBC Radio yesterday. Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said he had no doubt the more than 50,000 BT workers his union represents would vote in favor of industrial action in a ballot. The CWU said last week it would ballot its members on industrial action if BT did not come back with a better offer by yesterday.
■CREDIT
UnionPay hits out at Visa
China UnionPay (中國銀聯) yesterday hit out at Visa after the US credit giant told banks to stop using the Chinese company’s system when processing overseas transactions on cards that bear both firms’ logos. “Both companies have [the] responsibility and obligation to provide overseas transaction services for holders of co-branded cards,” said state-backed UnionPay, which has a monopoly on bank card payment processing in China. “Neither party has the right to unilaterally restrict cardholders’ options for overseas payment channels,” the Shanghai-based company said in a statement.
■ENERGY
Moody’s lowers BP rating
Moody’s Investor Service on Thursday lowered BP’s ratings from Aa1 to Aa2, citing the impact of the Gulf of Mexicio oil spill. At the same time, Moody’s has also placed the above-mentioned long-term debt ratings on review for further possible downgrade. Earlier on Thursday, ratings agency Fitch had cut BP’s long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating from AA+ to AA and placed them on negative watch, citing risks from the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
■ECONOMY
Eurozone grows by 0.2%
The economy of the 16 countries that use the euro grew by 0.2 percent during the first quarter compared with the previous three-month period, despite another big drop in output in debt-laden Greece, official figures showed yesterday. The first quarter data from the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat were unrevised from the previous prediction. However, Eurostat now says that the eurozone economy actually grew by 0.1 percent in the last quarter of last year, against its previous forecast of zero growth.
■MEDIA
‘Newsweek’ receives bids
At least three groups of investors have made bids for Newsweek despite expectations of continued losses at the magazine. Initial, nonbinding bids were due on Wednesday. Those submitting bids include Newsmax Media, the publisher of the conservative monthly Newsmax; Open Gate Capital, the private equity firm that owns TV Guide magazine; and Thane Ritchie, a hedge fund manager who made an unsuccessful bid last year for the company that publishes the Chicago Sun-Times.
■INTERNET
Google buys Invite Media
Google on Thursday announced it has bought advertising technology startup Invite Media, which allows advertisers to bid on ad space. Invite Media developed a way to let advertisers bid in real time for online display ad space and created a “universal buying platform.” Google plans to invest heavily in Invite and eventually mesh its technology into DoubleClick, an online ad-targeting business it acquired three years ago. Financial details of the Invite deal were not disclosed, but reports put the price tag at US$70 million.
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