■SINGAPORE
Key exports tumble
Singapore’s key exports fell more than expected in December from a year ago, as recession-hit US and European consumers bought fewer goods from the city-state, the government said yesterday. Non-oil domestic exports tumbled 20.8 percent, faster than the 17.5 percent decline in November and worse than the average 20 percent slide tipped by analysts in a Dow Jones Newswires poll. It was the eighth straight month of contraction for the NODX, a closely watched barometer of the health of Singapore’s open, trade-driven economy. Total trade dropped 18.7 percent to US$58.93 billion.
■TELECOMS
Sony Ericsson suffers loss
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said yesterday it swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter, pressured by lower volumes due to the global financial crisis. The Sony Corp. and LM Ericsson AB joint venture said net loss came to 187 million euros (US$245 million), compared with a previous profit of 373 million euros. It also reported a loss for the full year 2008, at 73 million euros, from a previous profit of 1.1 billion euro. The company said it expected the market conditions to continue to deteriorate this year.
■ELECTRONICS
Wii sets new game record
Nintendo sold 10.17 million Wii consoles in the US last year, setting a new video game record despite dismal economic conditions gripping the country, according to NPD Group statistics. Nintendo’s DS handheld game devices sold nearly as well, with US consumers snatching up 9.95 million of them last year, the NPD figures released on Thursday indicate. The four top-selling video games last year are Wii titles, and Nintendo’s retail success is credited with helping video game industry revenues last year rise 19 percent from the previous year.
■ELECTRONICS
Hitachi set to report loss
Japan’s Hitachi Ltd expects to report a net loss of more than US$1 billion for the current business year to March because of falling demand for microchips, the Nikkei daily reported yesterday. If confirmed, it would become the latest Japanese company to find itself in the red due to the global economic crisis, which has badly hit foreign demand for key Japanese exports such as electronics and cars. Hitachi expects to incur a group net loss of more than ¥100 billion (US$1.1 billion), a reversal of the ¥15 billion profit projected earlier, the economic daily added without identifying its sources. The electronics and engineering group would thus remain in the red for the third straight year, it said.
■TOURISM
Thailand may waive fees
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government may waive visa fees for all tourists for three months in a bid to boost visitor numbers following last year’s siege of Bangkok’s airports. Abhisit — who has come under fire for including in his government members of the protest group that seized the airports in November — said late on Thursday there could also be discounts on aircraft landing fees. “The plan to revive the tourism sector will be tabled at the Cabinet meeting next Tuesday and will include a three months waiver for visa fees and discounting landing fees,” he told a seminar. “I hope these measures will help the tourism sector one way or another.”
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