■INSURANCE
AIA plans HK stock offering
AIA, the Asian unit of troubled US insurer American International Group (AIG), will launch a US$15 billion share sale on Oct. 29 in what could be the world’s second-biggest stock offering this year, reports said yesterday. The insurer was seeking approval from Hong Kong’s bourse yesterday with plans to set a price range next week, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported, both citing unnamed sources. If approved, AIA will start investor presentations on Oct. 6, the Journal reported. AIA is also hoping to sign an agreement next week with so-called cornerstone investors — generally institutional buyers — who could pick up as much as one-fifth of the offering, the Financial Times said.
■AUTOMAKERS
China fines Toyota financing
Chinese authorities have fined Japanese automaker Toyota’s financing unit for commercial bribery after it paid dealers for directing loan business its way, state media reported yesterday. Toyota Motor Finance (China) Co gave rebates to three dealers after they had steered their customers to borrow money from Toyota rather than local banks between August 2008 and April this year, the official Xinhua news agency said. Authorities fined Toyota Motor Finance — a subsidiary of Toyota Financial Services — 140,000 yuan (US$20,850) and confiscated its illegal earnings of 426,352 yuan.
■INTERNET
Google Apps has 30m users
Google Inc said on Monday that more than 30 million people are using Google Apps, as the company unveiled enhanced security features for the Web-based suite of office tools. “As of today, more than three million businesses have gone Google, and over 30 million users within businesses, schools and organizations now depend on our messaging and collaboration tools,” Google said in a blog post. Google Apps include products or services such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs and are seen as the Mountain View, California company’s challenge to Microsoft’s popular Office software.
■ ENERGY
Gazprom eyes partnership
Russia’s state-owned natural gas monopoly Gazprom has hinted it may invite Japanese firms to participate in the Sakhalin 3 project if foreign support is deemed necessary, Japan’s Nikkei business daily said yesterday. Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told the paper that his shortlist includes Japanese trading giants Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp as well as Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Medvedev called the Sakhalin 2 project, in which liquefied natural gas output has reached full capacity, “a good example of Russia-Japan cooperation,” the report said. In the Sakhalin 3 project, Gazprom is now test-drilling the Kirinsky field by itself.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Nokia denies N8 delay
Nokia said yesterday that reports of a delay in the launch of its new N8 mobile phone, seen as a key product needed to boost the company’s fortunes, are inaccurate. The N8 is a competitor to the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-platform smartphones. “We have said we expect to ship the N8 by the end of the third quarter and that hasn’t changed,” Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson said. He said that the misunderstanding has arisen from the fact that Nokia’s marketing department informed customers who pre-ordered the phone that they should expect them next moth. He added that a number of factors affect delivery, such as shipping and customs arrangements.
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