■ Oil
Prices fall on OPEC pledge
Oil prices fell yesterday after OPEC offered to reassure jumpy energy markets that the oil cartel was ready to prevent a shortage of supplies in the event of war in Iraq. US April light crude futures shed US$0.20 to US$36.52 a barrel after falling US$0.55 to settle at US$36.72 in New York yesterday. "There will be no shortage of oil," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters. "The test is, when the need is there, whether we will use the capacity or not and I can assure you we will." Saudi Arabia followed up by informing global crude customers it would supply full term volumes for next month soon after the OPEC meeting ended. "The market's taking comfort from OPEC comments that there will be some additional supplies if Iraq's production is halted due to war," said John Hirjee, senior energy analyst at Deutsche Bank in Melbourne.
■ Automobiles
Ford stalls with investors
Investors are souring on Ford Motor Co. Shares of the world's second-biggest carmaker fell 5.6 percent yesterday to US$6.60, the lowest in a decade. The stock has lost about US$18 billion in market value in the past 12 months, a 62 percent decline, compared with a 51 percent drop for General Motors Corp and 38 percent for DaimlerChrysler AG's US stock. Prices have dropped to US$0.70 on the dollar for Ford's 30-year bonds as investors demand more yield than for similar securities sold by Russia, which defaulted on domestic debt in 1998. Ford's 6.375 percent bond due in 2029 yields 9.3 percent compared with 8 percent for Russia's 5 percent bonds due in 2030.
■ Trade
Australia, US eye pact
Australia and the US could seal a two-way free trade pact by August next year if negotiations that begin next week are conducted in a "spirit of willingness," the government said yesterday. American negotiators arrive in Australia on Monday for formal talks on the pact. "If both Australia and the United States enter into these negotiations ... in the correct frame of mind and spirit of willingness then there's every opportunity that they could be completed by" August of next year, Trade Minister Mark Vaile told reporters. US President George W. Bush authorized talks for a free-trade deal in November, following two years of intensive lobbying by Australia. Canberra believes the pact would pump an extra A$4 billion (US$2.6 billion) a year into Australia's economy.
■ Finance
Chinese boost savings
China's household savings rose to a record 10 trillion yuan (US$1.21 billion) last month, as people put more money aside amid concerns a possible US invasion of Iraq is causing economic growth to falter worldwide. Savings rose 18 percent last month from a year ago, the People's Bank of China said on its Web site. Household savings rose by a fifth in January, the fastest pace of growth since 1998. "Consumers are becoming increasingly defensive given the global context," said Mike Moran, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. "It's only natural that people are spending a little bit less and putting more aside for security." China's retail sales rose 9 percent from a year earlier in the first two months of this year, the State Economic and Trade Commission estimates. That would lag the 9.2 percent sales growth in the final quarter of last year.
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