■Auto sales
Japan may have slump
Sales in Japan of new vehicles, excluding minivehicles, are likely to fall below 4 million vehicles this year for the first time in three years, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Sales are expected to fall by 2 percent to 3.96 million this year as sales of luxury cars and trucks have declined on slow corporate demand, the paper said, citing its own survey. Sales of cars with engines of at least 2L will fall about 10 percent, the paper said. Subcompact car sales will increase and are forecast to account for more than 60 percent of total vehicle sales, the report said. Japan's domestic auto sales will rise 0.7 percent to 5.85 million vehicles next year from an estimated 5.81 million next year, the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association said this month.
■ Brewers
Guinness faces restrictions
Carlsberg Brewery-Malaysia Bhd, Guinness Anchor Bhd and other brewers will be restricted in staging production promotions in restaurants in the Malaysian state of Selangor, the New Straits Times reported, citing a statement from state authorities. The brewers have been directed to halt all marketing promotions for the next three months, while authorities check which establishments have government approval for those activities, the paper said, citing state officials Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan and Ch'ng Toh-eng. Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country.
■ Retailers
Seibu to sell jewelry unit
Seibu Department Stores Ltd, a closely held Japanese retailer, will sell a jewelry retailer and two clothing units to reduce its Japanese Yen 580 billion (US$4.8 billion) of debt, Nikkei English News reported. The jewelry unit, J. Osawa & Co, which also sells golf equipment, and the two clothing units, one which buys overseas items, will be sold by the end of January, Nikkei reported, without citing anyone. Seibu has more than Japanese Yen 40 billion in loan guarantees to the three companies, the report said. Seibu is trying to reduce debt as it prepares to combine operations with failed department store operator Sogo Co Ltd and has held talks with its creditors to try and garner their financial support.
■ Agriculture
Chickens get flu in HK
Hong Kong health authorities slaughtered 16,000 chickens at a farm and closed the wholesale market at Cheung Sha Wan after bird flu virus was found in dead chickens. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement that it's keeping surveillance on 14 other chicken farms in the New Territories, the area adjacent to China. It said chicken shipments from China to the wholesale market have been halted, and live chicken sales in retail markets won't be resumed until Jan. 1.
■ Free trade
Mexico to offer farm aid
Mexican government officials will meet today with farm representatives to draft an aid package for farmers, in a bid to avert protests Jan. 1 over the lowering of trade barriers with the US and Canada. The government will offer subsidies and cheaper credit to alleviate farmers' concerns that they will be at a competitive disadvantage to bigger US producers when tariffs on 12 products are dropped at yearend, said an Agriculture Ministry official. The tariffs and quotas are falling under the 1994 North American FTA.
Agencies
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