■ Economy
China now ranks fourth
China has squeaked by the UK by the tiniest of margins to become the world's fourth-largest economy, according to the World Bank's latest calculations. The World Bank said that by its official measure, China produced US$2.263825 trillion in output last year. That was just US$94 million, or 0.004 percent, more than the UK. China overtook the UK last year based on each country's GDP converted into US dollars at current exchange rates. But the bank's widely watched ranking measures gross national income converted into dollars using the "Atlas" method of currency conversion, which smooths out exchange rate fluctuations by using a three-year average. Gross national income comprises GDP plus net inflows of income such as rents, profits and salaries from abroad. The US, Japan and Germany remain the world's first, second and third-largest economies, according to the bank.
■ Finance
Beijing to ease broker rules
China will allow brokerages to offer financing services to investors, Beijing said, part of a campaign by market regulators to breathe life into the country's long ailing stock exchanges. The decision to let investors take out loans to buy shares, announced over the weekend, is expected to help draw a share of the country's US$4 trillion in bank deposits into the markets as major share offerings hit the market -- including a 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) initial public offering by Bank of China (中國銀行), the country's biggest ever. The bank, the country's second-biggest lender, was due to begin trading tomorrow on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Other major firms, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (上海汽車工業) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (中國工商銀行) are expected to follow within months. The move to allow share purchases "on margin" is aimed at luring leery investors back, helping to boost the markets' role in corporate fundraising.
■ Trade
Complaint filed in Seoul
Two US technology firms have filed a complaint with South Korea's antitrust watchdog accusing US mobile phone chip developer Qualcomm of abusing its market dominance, officials said yesterday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the complaint was lodged by Texas Instruments and Broadcom. "Qualcomm was accused of selling its handset chips bundled with other chip products by using its market dominance," an FTC official said. Qualcomm has monopoly market status in South Korea as the sole supplier of handset chips using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. Texas Instruments and Broadcom claimed that Qualcomm is blocking their entry into the South Korean market by bundling multi-media chips with its CDMA chips, Yonhap news agency said. Last year, six firms filed a complaint with the EU, accusing Qualcomm of collecting excessive royalty fees. South Korean firms have also accused the firm of selling mobile phone chips bundled with other software, prompting regulators to raid its office in Seoul in April.
■ Breweries
APB to build in India
Singapore-listed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), producer of Tiger Beer brand, will build a brewery in India's Andhra Pradesh state as part of the company's push into the region. APB is teaming up with India's Jaipuria Group, one of the country's largest soft drinks producers, to set up the US$15-million brewery, it said.
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