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FINLAND
Retail sales slow
Finland’s retail sales growth slowed for a second consecutive month in June as faster inflation and weaker economic growth led consumers to curtail spending on non-essential goods. The value of retail sales at market prices rose an annual 3.1 percent, the slowest pace in three months, compared with 9.8 percent in May, Helsinki-based Statistics Finland said on its Web site yesterday, citing revised figures. It had previously reported growth of 2.5 percent.
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HONG KONG
Shopaholics abound: survey
Hong Kong’s image as a city of shopaholics is justified, according to a survey yesterday, which found many residents are compulsive spenders, with some holding up to 15 credit cards each. The study by the University of Hong Kong concluded that 6.7 percent of people in the wealthy high-rise city could be classified as compulsive shoppers and found 90 percent of them had unpaid debts. A third of the compulsive shoppers interviewed had five or more credit cards with some holding up to 15 different credit cards. Seventy percent had outstanding balances on all their cards.
■AUSTRALIA
Business conditions fall
Business conditions were sharply lower last month and approaching the lows of 2001 while confidence remained weak, a survey released yesterday said. The NAB monthly business survey for last month found that business conditions fell five points to minus five in that month — 25 points under its recent peak in October of last year. The survey said the fall in conditions was very broadly based, with particularly large falls recently in mining, manufacturing and wholesaling. “The key message from this month’s NAB business survey is that the sharp slowdown in domestic demand continued through July and more importantly, that the rate of slowing has, in recent months, accelerated,” it said.
■AVIATION
Cathay shares rise
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, rose the most in 10 months on the city’s stock market after saying it would cut flights to North America and add more services to Australia to offset higher fuel costs. The airline gained as much as 6.6 percent and traded at HK$14.82 (US$1.90), up 5.9 percent, at 11:06am. The carrier will cut 10 weekly North America flights and add eight new services to Australia, it said in an e-mailed statement late on Monday.
■CHINA
Inflation continues to ease
The inflation rate eased for the third consecutive month last month, giving the government more leeway to pursue policies to boost growth, economists said yesterday. The consumer price index was up 6.3 percent last month, easing from June’s 7.1 percent and May’s 7.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said in its monthly release. “I think in the next few months we will further see a slowdown in inflation,” Deutsche Bank economist Jun Ma told Dow Jones Newswires. He said weaker inflation will likely result in a relaxation of credit conditions later this year. Rising fuel prices played a role in last month’s inflation, with gasoline prices up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said. Beijing in June lifted petrol and diesel prices by up to 18 percent as the government moved to close the gap between state-set domestic prices and the soaring world oil market. The government also raised electricity costs.
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