■Aviation
Unpaid leave for Dragonair
Hong Kong's Dragon Airlines Ltd has asked its 2,800 workers to take four weeks' unpaid leave between next month and September to trim costs as concern about SARS, keeps travelers at home. "A special leave scheme, applicable to all staff, has been announced," Dragon-air said in a statement. "Under the scheme, Dragon-air is seeking the support of all its staff in taking four weeks' unpaid leave over a four month period." The airline earns most of its profit from services to China. The carrier has cut scheduled flights by 64 percent since mid-March because of SARS, sus-pending 10 of its 29 routes. Dragonair is losing US$1 million a day, flying with as few as 700 passengers daily, compared with as many as 13,000 a day on average at this time of year, the South China Morning Post reported last week. The company declined to confirm the numbers.
■ Currency
White House backs dollar
The White House on Monday reiterated its support for a strong dollar after US Secretary of the Treasury John Snow hinted over the weekend that a weaker currency might help boost US exports. "There's no change in dollar policy," spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters as President George W. Bush headed to Omaha, Nebraska, to tout his tax-cut plan. "The government continues to support a strong dollar," Fleischer said. The euro soared above US$1.16 for the first time since 1999 after Snow's comments, but settled back to US$1.1541 from US$1.1489 in New York on Friday. The dollar stood at ?117, down from ?117.18 on Friday. Snow's comment in an interview over the weekend that the declining US currency has effectively helped the coun-try's exports provided fuel for the rally against the dollar.
■ Singapore
Trade shows cancelled
Two major trade shows have been cancelled because of the SARS outbreak in Singapore, dealing another blow to the already beleaguered airline, hotel and tourism related sectors, organizers said yesterday. Semicon Singa-pore 2003, Southeast Asia's biggest exposition for semiconductor manufac-turing technology, and Tax Free World Association (TFWA) Asia Pacific, an event for the duty-free and travel retail industry, have fallen victim to the outbreak even though the situation is stabilizing here. More than 10,000 visitors from more than 30 countries attended the Semicon show last year.
■ Internet
Man settles SEC suit
A man accused of sending out as many as 1 billion "spam" e-mail messages agreed to pay US$107,510 to settle charges with US stock market regulators, officials said Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said K.C. Smith, a 20-year-old Kentucky resident, agreed to the settlement of charges that he illegally promoted some investment schemes as government-guaranteed. An SEC complaint alleges that Smith "created Web sites for two fictitious investment opportunities ... offering double-digit monthly returns on investments purportedly insured by the `United States Deposit Insurance Corporation' or `USDIC,' another entity invented by Smith." The SEC said that none of the money Smith raised through the sites was invested and none of it was insured. Smith used the money to pay his personal expenses.
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