■ FINLAND
GDP growth slows
The Nordic country’s economy grew at the slowest pace in three-and-a-half years in the third quarter, less than forecast by economists, as exports declined and growth in consumer spending stalled. GDP grew 0.1 percent from the previous three months, when it expanded a revised 0.5 percent, Helsinki-based Statistics Finland said on its Web site yesterday. The median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey was for growth of 0.2 percent. Annual economic growth slowed to 1.3 percent from a revised 2.5 percent. Consumer spending, which has so far helped Finland’s economy to weather the impact of the US-led financial crisis, stalled in the third quarter, declining 0.1 percent from the previous three months. Exports slid 3.4 percent over the same period as recession in the euro zone and the US undermined demand.
■GERMANY
Loan guarantees considered
The central government could grant its central bank powers to guarantee interbank loans in a bid to encourage more takers for the government’s banking rescue plan, media reports said yesterday. Bundesbank president Axel Weber proposed the idea to the government, the financial daily Handelsblatt reported, citing sources close to both the central bank and the government. A working group had been set up inside the central bank to study the feasibility of the project, a Bundesbank spokesman told the paper. The weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the role of guarantor might be carried out either by the Bundesbank or by the KfW bank, the state’s financial arm. But a government source told the paper the solution would only be a temporary one.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ford executives laid off
The Philippine branch of Ford Motor Co has laid off 30 executives in a cost-cutting measure in the face of the global financial turmoil, a company official was cited as saying yesterday. Ford Philippines group president Rick Baker was quoted in the Manila Standard newspaper as saying the layoffs, which include three vice-presidents, were equivalent to 15 percent of the company’s corporate workforce in the Philippines. The move affects both Ford Philippines and its affiliate Mazda Philippines, the newspaper said. Ford and Mazda would save between 5 million and 7 million pesos (US$102,000 to US$144,000) a year through the retrenchment, Baker said. “We are implementing this realignment to have a much leaner and efficient workforce,” Baker was quoted as saying.
■JAPAN
Account surplus plunges
The country’s current account surplus plunged 56.5 percent in October from a year earlier as the financial crisis drove down exports, official figures showed yesterday. Asia’s largest economy posted a surplus of ¥960.5 billion (US$10.3 billion) in its current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, finance ministry data showed. In the midst of its first recession in seven years, the Asian giant ran up a deficit of ¥131.9 billion in the balance of trade in goods and services, reversing a year-earlier surplus of ¥96.1 billion. In goods alone, its trade surplus tumbled 87.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥145.8 billion. Exports slid 7.3 percent to ¥6.59 trillion on falling shipments to the US, the EU and the rest of Asia. Imports rose 8 percent to ¥6.45 trillion, inflated by high oil and gas 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
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