■ JAPAN
Economy is 'deteriorating'
Tokyo said the economy is “deteriorating,”acknowledging for the first time that the country’s longest postwar expansion has probably ended. “There is a high possibility the economy has entered a recession,” Shigeru Sugihara, head of business statistics at the Cabinet Office said in yesterday. Tokyo bases its assessment of the economy on the coincident index, its broadest indicator of economic health. The Cabinet Office declares the economy has worsened if the index has fallen for one month and the three-month moving-average has declined for three or more months. The leading index for the next three to six months, fell to 101.7 from 103.3.
■ AUSTRALIA
Tax laws under review
Canberra has launched the most comprehensive review of its tax laws in more than 50 years as it bids to make them simpler and more globally competitive, Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday. The government was serious about the “modernization of our tax and transfer payment system,” Swan said as he released a tax discussion paper. The paper is the first step in a review to simplify Australia’s complicated taxation system, which includes at least 99 federal taxes, 25 state government taxes and one local government tax.
■ METALS
Lonmin rebuffs Xstrata bid
British platinum producer Lonmin rejected a takeover bid yesterday from Swiss mining giant Xstrata, arguing that it was “opportunistic and unwelcome” and had undervalued the group. Earlier yesterday, Xstrata launched a hostile bid for Lonmin, valuing the world’s third largest platinum producer at more than 6 billion euros (US$9.3 billion). “The board of Lonmin notes the unsolicited, pre-conditional offer announced this morning by Xstrata for the entire issued share capital of Lonmin at 3,300 pence [US$64.50] per share in cash,” Lonmin said in a brief statement.
■ UNITED STATES
Fed holds rate at 2%
The Federal Reserve, in a widely predicted move, kept its main interest rate unchanged at 2.0 percent on Tuesday, citing concerns about sputtering economic growth and inflationary pressures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 331 points to close at 11,615.77 as investors cheered the announcement, although tumbling oil prices also boosted Wall Street’s spirits. The Fed said that relatively low rates should eventually fire up growth going forward, but warned that multiple hurdles stand in the path of a potential economic revival. “Tight credit conditions, the ongoing housing contraction and elevated energy prices are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters,” the central bank said.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Yahoo recounts votes
Yahoo on Tuesday updated the results of recent voting by shareholders, revealing that support for the Internet firm’s board is far weaker than it appeared. Some 200 million votes were mistakenly cast in favor of the re-election of Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang (楊致遠) and board chairman Roy Bostock by an outside company used by a major stockholder. A revised tally released on Tuesday shows Bostock got the least support, with 60.4 percent of votes in favor of his re-election instead of the 79.5 percent originally reported after the Aug. 1 shareholders meeting. Yang did not fare much better, winning 66.3 percent of the votes cast as opposed to the 85.6 percent figure in the miscount.
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