World leaders announced a US$50 billion boost in development aid yesterday, declaring the deal was a message of hope that countered the hatred behind the London bomb attacks.
"We speak today in the shadow of terrorism but it will not obscure what we came here to achieve," British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared, flanked by fellow leaders of the G8 states and seven of their African counterparts.
Blair, who skipped much of Thursday's session to handle the aftermath of the bombs in London, did not give a timetable for reaching the aid target.
Campaigners said they understood the deal was to double overall aid to some US$100 billion by 2010, with about half of that destined for Africa. They had pressed for the boost immediately, saying a delay would cost millions of lives.
"There is no hope in terrorism or any future in it worth living and it is hope that is the alternative to this hatred," Blair said on the steps of the Gleneagles hotel.
"We offer today this contrast with the politics of terror," he said.
"It isn't all everyone wanted but it is progress, real and achievable progress," he said. "It isn't the end of poverty in Africa, but it is the hope that it can be ended."
They agreed to start a dialogue on Nov. 1 with the major emerging economies on how to slow down and later reverse the rise in greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
Environmental groups have criticized their accord as too vague to pose a serious challenge to climate change.
The leaders pledged to end farm-export aid but set no deadline. They also called for renewed efforts to conclude a new phase of world trade liberalization by the end of next year.
Blair had been determined that his twin priorities of action on global warming and African poverty would not be wrecked by the London bombings.
But he brought forward his closing news conference by one hour yesterday to allow him to head back to London in the early afternoon and take charge of the crisis.
Blair also announced a US$3 billion aid deal for the Palestinian Authority -- a pledge he said would allow "two states, Israel and Palestine, two peoples and two religions [to] live side by side in peace."
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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