■ Forex
Lehman sees dollar drop
Lehman Brothers Holdings said the dollar will fall after the Federal Reserve's decision to raise its target interest rate by a quarter point from 1 percent. The firm cut its forecast for the dollar versus Canada's currency. "Expectations of higher US interest rates cannot serve as a source of support for the dollar for-ever," Jim McCormick, Lehman's head of global currency research in Lon-don, wrote in the firm's weekly report on currency strategy. "Although rising US interest-rate expecta-tions have been a source of support for the dollar in advance of the first rate hike, the historical relation-ship has eventually broken down." Lehman reiterated its May 27 recommenda-tions to sell the dollar versus the currencies of Japan, Switzerland and Canada.
■ Banking
Strikers seize building
Up to 2,000 striking workers occupied the headquarters of the Citigroup-owned KorAm Bank yesterday, crippling the lender's operations as the strike entered its eighth day. Customers have withdrawn about 1.91 trillion won (US$1.65 billion) from the mid-size lender this week, the government's Financial Supervisory Service said yesterday. On Thursday alone, the bank's deposits fell by 271.8 billion won to 28.82 trillion won. KorAm's 2,500 unionized workers began the strike last Friday, demanding a wage hike and job guarantees in the wake of a takeover by US-based Citigroup earlier this year.
■ Media
Black sues over sale
Conrad Black sued Hollin-ger International in a US court on Thursday, demand-ing that the company hold a shareholder vote on its proposed sale of the British Daily and Sunday Tele-graph newspapers, his holding company said in a statement. Black's holding company, Hollinger Inc, took the dispute to Dela-ware Chancery Court, the company said in a state-ment. Black is seeking to force Hollinger Interna-tional to hold a shareholder vote on its June 22 deal to sell its most valuable asset, the Telegraph Group, to the Barclay brothers for about US$1.33 billion. The lawsuit is the latest round in a seven-month dispute between Hollinger International and Black.
■ South Korea
Seoul to boost construction
South Korea's government said it will spend an extra 2 trillion won (US$1.7 billion) on roads, homes and bridges to stem a slowdown in the construction industry, which accounts for about a fifth of Asia's third-largest economy. Part of the money will come from the 4.5 trillion won extra budget the government announced last month, the Ministry of Construction and Transpor-tation said in a statement. Construction orders fell for a fifth straight month in May, sliding 24 percent from a year earlier, a government report showed earlier this week. That was the biggest drop in 14 months.
■ Japan
Softbank mulls C&W bid
Internet investor Softbank Corp is in talks with Britain's Cable and Wireless to purchase its Japanese unit, the Asahi newspaper said yesterday. Softbank reportedly aims to strengthen its Internet-based telecommunications services through the purchase. Softbank was expected to pay about ?10 billion (US$92 million) for Cable and Wireless IDC, which has about 40,000 corporate clients in Japan.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
VIOLATION OF NORMS: China’s CCTV broadcast claimed that Beijing could use Interpol to issue arrest warrants, which the MAC slammed as an affront to order The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for attempts to intimidate Taiwanese through “transnational repression.” The council issued the remarks after state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) yesterday during a news broadcast aired a video targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), threatening him with “cross-border repression” and saying: “Stop now, or you will be next,” in what Taipei officials said was an attempt to intimidate not only Shen, but also the broader Taiwanese public. The MAC in a statement condemned the threat, accusing Beijing of trying to instill fear and self-censorship among Taiwanese and
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