■BANKING
ECB deposits rise on distrust
Eurozone banks deposited a record amount of funds overnight with the European Central Bank (ECB), it said yesterday, a continued sign of distrust on the interbank lending market. Commercial banks preferred to place 350.9 billion euros (US$416.7 billion) in the ECB’s overnight deposit facility where they earned interest of 0.25 percent rather than lend the cash to each other at higher rates. Banks have become wary of lending to each other again due to growing fears in the last month about heavy exposure to eurozone government debt. The last record for overnight deposits placed with the ECB was 320 billion euros, set last week. Before the global financial crisis erupted in August 2007, banks typically deposited a little more than 9 billion euros in the ECB’s facility.
■AVIATION
EADS expects sales boost
European aerospace giant EADS could revise up its sales forecast for this year thanks to the euro’s weakness against the dollar, the company’s finance chief said in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland yesterday. “Sales could be better than expected” due to the euro’s recent depreciation against the dollar, Hans Peter Ring told said. In its first quarter results the company, which owns airplane maker Airbus, estimated that its revenues would be roughly stable this year compared with last year, when it booked income of 43 billion euros. However, that estimate was based on an exchange rate of 1.40 euros to the dollar. The euro dropped to under US$1.20 on Friday.
■BANKING
Denmark may cut rates
Denmark’s central bank will probably cut its certificates of deposit and current account rates “within one or two weeks” to temper the inflow of foreign currency and tame the strengthening of the krone, Sydbank chief economist Jacob Graven said yesterday in a telephone interview. “The money is rushing into Denmark and the krone has risen to its strongest level against the euro in five years,” Graven said. “The debt crisis in southern Europe is causing investors all over the world to look for safe countries. By comparison, Denmark has a relatively low debt and a moderate budget deficit.” Nationalbanken cut the deposit rate to 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent and the current account rate to 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent on May 26, while leaving the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.05 percent. Denmark’s foreign currency reserves rose to a record 440.5 billion kroner (US$70.7 billion) at the end of last month.
■TELECOMS
AT&T eyes Reliance stake
US telecom giant AT&T is in informal discussions with Reliance Communications Ltd about taking a significant minority stake in the Indian cellphone company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The newspaper, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said the talks were at a “very early” stage and cautioned that no deal is imminent. It said advisers and officials at the US and Indian companies have been in touch in the past few weeks to explore the idea. Reliance’s board has approved the sale of up to a 26 percent equity stake in the company, India’s second-largest wireless carrier, to raise cash for debt reduction and network upgrades, the Journal said. The newspaper said Reliance has also been in talks with Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat Emirates Telecommunications Corp and other foreign telecom firms.
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