■ Japan
GDP grows 2.2 percent
Japan's economy grew for the seventh straight quarter, expanding at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the quarter from July through September, signaling a recovery driven by strong exports and private sector investments. Cabinet Office data released yesterday for GDP -- the value of a nation's goods and services -- showed the economy grew 0.6 percent in the three months, better than the 0.4 percent rise on average in private forecasts in a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. "It confirms our scenario for economic recovery," Japan's economy and banking minister Heizo Takenaka told reporters. Business investment jumped 2.8 percent in the quarter. Exports were strong, especially in machinery and electronic devices, climbing 2.8 percent.
■ Nintendo
New machine out next year
Nintendo Co, the world's biggest maker of hand-held game players, said a game machine it will debut next year will be a new type of product rather than an enhancement of its existing players. The new machine is "not a next-generation GameCube console or GameBoy Advance" hand-held player, Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman for the Kyoto-based company said in a telephone interview. "It belongs to a completely new category," he added, without disclosing details. Nintendo is betting the new machine, coupled with recent price cuts on its GameCube console, will help it win a bigger share of the US$8 billion annual market for video games, where it has been losing ground to Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp. The company, which once dominated the video-game industry, on Thursday reported its first loss since going public in 1962.
■ Internet
Amazon opens jewelry store
Amazon Inc, the world's biggest Internet retailer, opened a jewelry and watch shop in its online marketplace, the third new shop in two months, to sell its own merchandise as well as inventory from other retailers. The newest addition to Seattle-based Amazon's Web site offers silver key holders, bracelets and pearl earrings from the company. Kroger Co's Fred Meyer Jewelers, Mondera.com and Timex Watches Ltd are also selling merchandise through the shop. Amazon.com is betting it can sell new kinds of merchandise to millions of customers by opening new shops to expand product selection in preparation for the holiday sales season. The company opened a sporting goods shop in September and a gourmet food store last month.
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