■ Memory chips
Samsung expects shortage
Samsung Electronics Co forecast a global shortage of computer memory from the third quarter following two quarters of oversupply. Supply of computer memory known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, will exceed demand this quarter, the first oversupply since the third quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics said at a conference in Seoul. Oversupply will widen in the second quarter before demand outpaces supply in the third quarter, the world's largest DRAM maker said. The shortage will widen in the fourth quarter, it said. Samsung's forecast underscores optimism for a recovery in chip demand. Growth in global computer chip revenue will peak this year, rising 18 percent to US$53.6 billion, fueled by demand for semiconductors that go into notebook computers, market researcher IDC said earlier this month.
■ Energy
Iraqi pipeline pumps oil
Iraq has successfully pumped oil through a pipeline linking its northern oil fields to the Turkish export terminal of Ceyhan, but an official reopening date has not been decided, the interim Iraqi oil minister said on Sunday. "Last week, on a trial basis, we pumped 6 million barrels of oil, enough to fill up the reservoirs in Ceyhan," the interim minister, Bahr al-Ulum, said. The pipeline, which runs across the so-called Sunni Triangle, was closed in August because of repeated attacks blamed on loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein and anti-US Islamist militants. Ulum said the crude oil in Ceyhan is sold by Iraq's North Oil Co and bought by US and French companies and others. "The trial pumping was a success but we have not yet decided when to make the official announcement that we are ready to reopen the oil pipeline for business," Ulum said in an interview at the ministry.
■ Household savings
Japan's savings ratio drops
Japanese households dipped into their savings to cover expenses last year for the first time since the Bank of Japan began tracking the figures in 1990, the central bank said. Japanese households had ?1.19 trillion (US$10.7 billion) more in liabilities than assets last year, according to a flow of funds report released by the central bank in Tokyo. The report measures assets including cash and savings against liabilities such as consumer and housing loans and other obligations. Japan's household savings ratio, which measures the ratio of savings to disposable incomes, fell to a record 6.2 percent in the year ended March 2003.
■ Real estate
Beijing mulls unified tax
China may impose a unified real estate tax to replace a plethora of fees that currently push housing prices to sky-high levels, state media said yesterday. The unified tax could slash housing prices by as much as 50 percent, the China Daily reported. This is because in China, land leasing fees, taxes and fees make up 58 percent of the total housing price, compared with just 28 percent in other countries, according to the newspaper. The proposal for a unified tax comes amid new figures adding to worries that a bubble is developing at a dangerous pace in China's red-hot real estate market. China's average real estate sales price rose 3.8 percent last year to 2,379 yuan (US$287) per square meter, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
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