■ Confidence
S Korea sees 5-year low
Consumer confidence in South Korea hit a five-year low last month as the central Bank of Korea said yesterday this year's economic growth will fall below 3 percent because of weak consumption and investment. The consumer evaluation index, which measures current consumer sentiment, fell to 59.9 last month from 63.9 in August, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said. The fall reflected a prolonged slump in consumer confidence amid uncertainty over the long-awaited economic recovery. It marks the lowest level since November 1998, when the data was first collated, the NSO said. The Bank of Korea separately said weaker-than-expected domestic consumption, coupled with meager investment, would drag the GDP growth rate for the fourth quarter to December down to below its latest forecast of 3.8 percent year-on-year.
■ Capital flow
Thaksin plans new tax
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday that his government is planning a tax on fast-capital flow in a bid to curb speculation of the baht in the foreign exchange market. Thaksin's comment immediately led to a drop in the value of baht, which has strengthened to a three-year high against the dollar. Some businesspeople have worried that the unusually strong baht will make exports more expensive. Thaksin told reporters that the Finance Ministry and the central bank are working on details of the tax plan, particularly the definition of fast capital flow. "We haven't reached a conclusion yet about the definition of fast capital flow whether it should be 3-month, 1-month or 7 days," he said.
■ Airlines
Valuair to launch next year
Singapore's new no-frills airline Valuair will start its operations early next year, local media said yesterday. Valuair founder and former Singapore Airlines chief executive Lim Chin Beng expects to obtain an air operators' certificate early next year, The Straits Times newspaper reported. Valuair also signed an agreement with Singapore's DBS Bank on Monday to use its automated teller machines for ticket payment, the paper said. The budget airline can expect to face stiff competition from Malaysia's AirAsia, which has also entered a similar ticket-sale arrangement with the bank and the city-state's biggest telecommunication company, Singtel. Valuair will operate short-haul flights out of Changi International Airport, although destinations have yet to be confirmed, it said.
■ Free trade
Mexico, Japan still divided
Japan and Mexico are still divided on the terms of a bilateral free trade accord but are making progress in the eleventh-hour talks ahead of a visit to Tokyo this week by Mexican President Vicente Fox, the Japanese foreign minister said yesterday. "The talks are moving ahead, albeit little by little," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told a regular news conference on the eve of Fox's arrival. The sensitive issue of agricultural trade has bogged the talks down, with Mexico pushing to remove high Japanese tariffs on pork while Japan has rejected the idea to protect domestic farmers. Trade, farm and other ministers of the two nations met in Tokyo Monday in a bid to secure a last-minute breakthrough for concluding a free trade agreement while Fox is here but remained divided over a range of issues.
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
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
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
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