■FINANCE
UK Visa spending rises
Britons increased spending on Visa payment cards by 10 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, Visa Europe said yesterday. That was higher than the 8.4 percent annual increase in the previous three months, the company said, citing data compiled by Markit Economics Ltd in London. Shoppers spent about £82 billion (US$124 billion) on Visa cards in the period. Visa Europe’s UK Expenditure Index is based on payments with the 91 million Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards, which account for £1 in every £4 spent in Britain
■ENERGY
Total to buy UTS stake
French energy giant Total SA said on Wednesday it would acquire a 20 percent share of a massive oil sands project in Alberta under a proposed takeover of UTS Energy Corp. The UTS board has agreed to sell the Canadian-based independent firm to a subsidiary of Total for C$1.5 billion (US$1.4 billion) in cash and shares in a new corporation. Total’s main purchase will be the portion of Fort Hills that’s owned by UTS. Suncor Energy owns 60 percent of Fort Hills but has indicated another project will be developed first. Total took a hostile run at UTS about a year and a half ago, ultimately walking away after its target repeatedly rejected its offer as too low. The cash portion of the deal is worth C$3.08 a share, which is 46 percent above the closing stock price on Tuesday.
■RETAIL
Wal-Mart fights death fine
Wal-Mart Stores Inc is fighting a US$7,000 fine resulting from the stampede death of a temporary employee during a post-Thanksgiving sales blitz at a store on New York’s Long Island. Company spokesman Greg Rossiter said the retailer was being asked to take the blame for not obeying crowd control standards that weren’t on the books in 2008. That’s when a temporary worker at a Valley Stream, New York, store was crushed to death by a swarm of 2,000 bargain hunters who jammed into a vestibule. Wal-Mart did pay nearly US$2 million to avoid possible criminal prosecution over the worker’s death, but said it didn’t want the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to gain possible control over future sales promotions.
■RETAIL
Carrefour not selling stores
French supermarket giant Carrefour has denied that its stores in Malaysia and Singapore would close following reports that it would shut down its Southeast Asian outlets. On Tuesday, produce industry Web site Fruit Net said the retailer planned to sell its interests in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in a deal worth up to US$1 billion. “Carrefour Malaysia and Singapore denies any store closure in Malaysia and in Singapore, reminding that it is business as usual for every store,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
■INTEREST RATES
UK keeps rate unchanged
The Bank of England yesterday kept its bond-stimulus plan in place and left its benchmark interest rate at a record low to help prevent the economic recovery from stalling. The Monetary Policy Committee held the target for its asset-buying plan unchanged at £200 billion and its key interest rate at 0.5 percent. Officials are weighing the risk of inflation against the danger that government spending cuts to tackle the record budget gap will push the economy back into a recession. A split has emerged within the central bank, with Andrew Sentance voting for a rate hike last month, the first push for policy tightening in almost two years.
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