■Economy
Consumers tighten belts
Consumers across the Asia-Pacific region are cutting back expenses, spending less on luxury items and even reducing taxi rides amid concerns over the uncertain economy and terrorist attacks, an ACNielsen survey showed on Tuesday. The online poll surveyed some 9,000 Internet users across 13 countries. The majority of respondents said recovery in the global economy is at least another 12 to 18 months away. Generally, more respondents placed terrorism as their biggest concern in the next six months compared to a similar survey last July, with Australians and New Zealanders being the most concerned. The findings of the latest Asia-Pacific Consumer Confidence Poll conducted last month show 53 percent of Singapore respondents have put off investing in property, stocks and shares or going on holidays, up from 50 per cent from July.
■ Camera chips
Sanyo to boost output
Sanyo Electric Co, the world's No. 1 maker of cellphone batteries, said it plans to spend Japanese Yen 45 billion (US$379 million) over the next three years to increase its production of semiconductors used in digital cameras. The Osaka-based company will use the money to increase its production capacity of chips known as charge-coupled devices. Of the outlay, the company will use Japanese Yen 10 billion for CCD output next fiscal year. CCDs are image-capturing devices used in digital cameras and cellphones with built-in cameras, which are gaining popularity in the Japanese market. In the three months ended Sept. 30, more than 40 percent of cellphones sold in Japan were equipped with built-in cameras, according to market researcher Gartner Dataquest. Under the plan, Sanyo will increase its capacity to make CCDs fivefold by the spring of 2004, Sanyo Electric President Yukinori Kuwano said.
■ Tourism
Aussies let guests work
Visitors to Australia aged between 18 and 30 are now allowed to finance their holiday there by working, Australian tourism officials say. The policy allows young travellers to have an extended holiday in Australia by supplementing their funds by casual employment. Australia has reciprocal working-holiday arrangements with 14 countries: Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, South Korea, Malta, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong, Finland and Cyprus. Applicants for working holiday visas must apply from outside Australia. The visa is valid for 12 months.
■ Film piracy
Spain breaks up ring
Spanish police have broken up Europe's biggest music and movie pirating network, arresting 40 people and seizing thousands of illegal copies of compact discs and DVDs in Madrid, officials said on Monday. "We have seized 240,000 CDs and DVDs ready to go onto the black market," Interior Minister Angel Acebes told reporters, estimating the material was worth nearly 2 billion euros (US$2.13 billion). Police raided 13 premises in Madrid, smashing the ring which they said had tentacles across Europe. Of the 40 arrested, most were of Chinese and Senegalese nationality. The pirate copies included releases as recent as the latest Harry Potter film and the second part of the Lord of the Rings saga, The Two Towers.
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