■AVIATION
Passenger numbers plunge
Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, said passenger traffic last month fell 1.9 percent and cargo shipments plunged as the global recession reduced demand for business travel and retrained trade. The load factor, or proportion of seats filled, was 76.6 percent, a 0.5 percentage-point decline from a year earlier, the Paris-based carrier said yesterday in a statement. Cargo traffic contracted by 23 percent. The global recession will cause industry passenger numbers to fall by 3 percent this year and airlines to log combined losses of US$2.5 billion, International Air Transport Association estimates show. The decline in freight “is absolutely horrendous and that says a lot about where corporate Europe is,” said Andrew Fitchie, a London-based analyst at Collins Stewart. “It’s not looking good at all.” Global air freight plunged almost 23 percent in December, the International Air Transport Association said on Jan. 29. The decline was the largest the trade body had ever recorded.
■FOREIGN EXCHANGE
China, Malaysia ink deal
The central banks of China and Malaysia have signed a currency swap agreement, the Chinese government said, as Asia’s second-largest economy strengthened regional ties amid the global crisis. The People’s Bank of China and Bank Negara Malaysia announced the three-year, 80 billion yuan (US$11.7 billion) agreement on Sunday, the Chinese central bank said in a statement on its Web site. “The arrangement aims to promote bilateral trade and investment to boost the economic development of the two countries,” the brief statement said. Arrangements such as these ease liquidity trouble as they boost the amount of yuan that Malaysian banks can draw on while servicing local companies that use the Chinese currency when trading.
■BANKING
S Korean banks downgraded
International agency Moody’s said yesterday that it had downgraded ratings for eight South Korean banks, citing their dependence on the government to secure foreign currency funding. The foreign currency long-term senior debt ratings of the eight banks, including the country’s largest lender Kookmin Bank, were cut to “A2.” The revised ratings carry a stable outlook, except for state-run Korea Development Bank, which has a negative outlook. Because the banks rely on government support to secure foreign currency funding during the crisis, Moody’s believes their foreign currency debt ratings should not be higher than that of the government, senior credit officer Beatrice Woo said in a statement. “Therefore, their foreign currency debt ratings are best measured and constrained at the A2 foreign currency sovereign bond level,” she said.
■TELECOMS
SingTel reports growth
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) yesterday reported a 35 percent increase in regional mobile subscribers, despite stiff competition and the global economic crisis. SingTel’s combined regional mobile customer base reached 232 million on Dec. 31, Southeast Asia’s largest telecommunications firm said. On a quarterly basis, the increase was 7.3 percent, or 16 million customers, it said. All six of the company’s regional mobile associates posted double-digit customer growth, ranging from 13 percent to 55 percent, compared with a year earlier, SingTel said. The company has stakes in Thailand’s Advanced Info Service, India’s Bharti, Globe Telecom of the Philippines, Indonesia’s Telkomsel, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and Pakistan’s Warid Telecom.
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