■ SOFTWARE
Hurd may take Oracle post
Former Hewlett-Packard Co CEO Mark Hurd is in talks to take a top executive job at Oracle Corp, the database software maker run by his friend Larry Ellison, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said. The person said on Sunday that Ellison, the only person to serve as Oracle’s CEO since he founded the company 33 years ago, wouldn’t be leaving that post, adding that the talks were not yet finalized. The possibility of Hurd landing at Oracle isn’t a surprise. Ellison was vocal in coming to Hurd’s defense after Hurd’s sudden resignation on Aug. 6 in the wake of a sexual harassment investigation.
■ AVIATION
BA-Iberia eyeing targets
British Airways (BA) and Iberia have identified 12 airlines as potential takeover targets once their own tie-up is finalized, as they bid to create the world’s biggest carrier, newspapers reported yesterday. “In our discussions with colleagues in Iberia we have looked at airlines around the world to identify those that would be attractive to IAG [International Airlines Group],” the Times quoted BA chief executive Willie Walsh as saying. Analysts said BA-Iberia could be interested in Qantas, Cathay Pacific, American, LAN and South African, the Times reported. BA and Iberia are expected to complete their merger by the end of this year, but will operate under their existing brands as part of a new London-based holding company called IAG.
■ FINANCE
Retail mall fund going well
ING Real Estate Investment Management, the world’s largest property asset manager, is close to completing the first round of raising money for its 1.5 billion euro (US$1.9 billion) European shopping-mall fund. Since announcing a plan to set up the European Shopping Centre Fund in March, ING has received pledges of about 500 million euros from pension funds, insurers and other money managers, Pieter Hendrikse, its European chief, said in an interview last week in Amsterdam. ING’s fund aims to deliver an annual investment return of about 11 percent by boosting building values and income generation through better management, Hendrikse said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
UK auto sales dip 17.5%
Sales of new cars in Britain dropped 17.5 percent last month from a year ago, falling for the second consecutive month following the end of an incentive scheme to scrap old models, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday. The market will remain tough for the rest of the year, the association said, but it forecast that registrations this year would total 2 million, up 1.2 percent from last year. Jointly funded by the government and industry, the scrappage scheme offered motorists £2,000 (US$3,000) to trade in cars more than a decade old for more fuel efficient methods. The association said 55,305 vehicles were sold last month. The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling model last month and year to date.
■BONDS
Banks boost risk holdings
Banks increased their holdings of Greek, Irish, Portuguese and Spanish debt in the first quarter even as the sovereign crisis roiled credit markets, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. Banks boosted the amount they had at risk to the nations by US$109 billion to US$2.6 trillion, the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS said in its latest quarterly report. Banks in euro-zone countries held the greatest share of bonds from the four countries and Italy, the BIS said.
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