■THAILAND
Bank keeps eye on baht
Thailand yesterday ordered the central bank to keep a close eye on the baht and “prepare measures” after the currency soared to a 29-month high against the US dollar, the finance minister said. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called a special meeting with top economic officials, including the governor of the Bank of Thailand, after the baht hit its highest peak since April 2008. The currency reached 31.16 to 31.18 baht against the greenback at one point on Wednesday morning, having climbed about 5 to 6 percent this year.
■SOUTH KOREA
Exit stimulus policies: IMF
South Korea should pursue “a carefully calibrated exit” from economic stimulus policies in the face of strong growth this year, the IMF said on Wednesday. The IMF — which again revised up its growth forecast for Asia’s fourth-biggest economy to 6.1 percent, from 5.75 percent in a July report — said expansion was increasingly led by private sector demand and was at or near full growth potential. “The outlook is nevertheless subject to downside risks related to a global economic weakening and heightened global financial strains, especially in advanced economies,” it said. Growth would ease to 4.5 percent next year, it added.
■MINING
Iron prices to fall: Rio
Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-biggest iron ore supplier, said contract prices for the steelmaking commodity could fall 13 percent, the first decline in three quarters as Chinese demand weakens. Prices will fall to around US$127 a tonne for the three months starting on Oct. 1, from the previous quarter, Sam Walsh, the head of the London-based company’s iron ore business, said yesterday. Rates almost doubled in the April quarter, and gained more than 20 percent in the June-to-September period.
■PHARMACEUTICALS
Allergan to pay US$600m
Allergan, the maker of the popular anti-wrinkle treatment Botox, said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay US$600 million to settle a US probe into illegal marketing for so-called off-label uses. The company said in a statement it agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor “misbranding” charge covering the period 2000 through 2005 and pay the government US$375 million. It will pay an additional US$225 million to resolve civil claims from the Justice Department under the False Claims Act, which relates to fraud.
■AUTOMOBILES
GM roadshow in November
General Motors Co (GM) plans to begin courting investors for its initial public offering (IPO) immediately after the Nov. 2 US midterm congressional elections, two sources familiar with the plans said on Wednesday. GM’s roadshow is currently set to begin on Nov. 3 and will last two weeks, the sources said. The IPO is expected to be priced on Nov. 17 and debut on Nov. 18, the sources said.
■ELECTRONICS
Sony unveils e-readers
Sony, battling Amazon and Apple in the electronic book reader race, unveiled its latest devices on Wednesday and expanded their availability to Australia, China, Italy, Japan and Spain. Sony cut the size and weight of all three of its e-readers while expanding the use of touchscreens to all models — allowing users to turn pages with a swipe of the finger like the Apple iPad. Sony hiked the price of its cheapest e-reader, the Reader Pocket Edition, by US$29, while adding a touchscreen.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
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