■ South Korea
Bank profits down
South Korean banks suffered a 63.4 percent drop in net profits last year largely because of their exposure to a mountain of credit card and household debt, financial regulators said yesterday. The country's 19 banks posted a combined net profit of 1.86 trillion won (US$1.6 billion) last year, compared to 3.22 trillion won a year ago, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in its final report. The banks set aside 11 trillion won in new provisions last year to cover bad loans, including 5.3 trillion won against bad credit card assets and 2.85 trillion won against non-performing household loans. They sustained 655 billion won in losses on their equity holdings in credit card affiliates.
■ Energy
S Korea tries to conserve
The South Korean government plans to restrict the use of passenger cars next month if oil prices rise further, in a bid to maintain reserves, reports said yesterday. The plan calls for car owners to leave their vehicles at home one in every 10 days, Yonhap news agency said. Restrictions may follow a meeting by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Austria on March 30, Yonhap said. The oil cartel is mulling whether to cut output to compensate for seasonal drops in demand or to keep it steady and profit from high prices. "If they take actions that further raise prices, the country will have to cut back on spending," an unnamed government official told Yonhap. The government is also considering requiring companies to refrain from lighting billboards or the outsides of buildings after certain hours to save energy, it said.
■ Online Auctions
`Vigilantes' try to fight fraud
Some users of EBay Inc's online auction service are trying to fight fraud by making high bids on what they believe to be fake or non-existent merchandise and by warning other bidders, the New York Times said. The "vigilantes" say they are tired of increasing deception and believe EBay is too slow to take action, the paper said. About US$200 million lost to online fraud was reported to the Federal Trade Commission, the paper said. EBay has 800 people worldwide working to fight fraud, Rob Chesnut, vice president for rules, trust and safety, told the Times. He said the vigilantes aren't being "constructive." Klaus Priebe, of Pueblo, Colorado, said he regularly alerts EBay to listings he believes are fraudulent and sends e-mail messages to people who have bids on the products.
■ Germany
Job situation improving
Information technology (IT) students in Germany can now look forward to better job chances once they graduate, with IT companies planning to hire up to 50,000 new personnel in the field this year. The magazine Junge Karriere cited the IT industry federation Bitkom for the figure, with smaller IT service, consulting and software companies in particular looking for personnel. Above all, software developers and programmers are in demand, with 30 percent of new job offerings expected in these areas, the magazine reported. Clouding the overall picture is the fact that many name-brand companies in the field such as Siemens, IBM, SAP and automotive firms are holding back on new hirings, and instead are continuing to transfer such jobs outside the country.
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