■CZECH REPUBLIC
Cabinet approves stimulus
The Cabinet approved a proposed 70 billion koruna (US$3.14 billion) stimulus package on Monday to fight the effects of the global recession. The draft mixes lower taxes, investments in ecology and infrastructure, and loan guarantees for small businesses as well as big car manufacturers. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek plans to present details of the package to lawmakers today. The export-oriented Czech economy was among the fastest-growing in the EU but is expected to slide into recession this year because of the contractions in the foreign markets.
■GREECE
Bank predicts flat growth
Central bank Governor George Provopoulosn on Monday predicted anemic economic growth for this year, falling below government predictions amid “gloomy” prospects for the economies of countries using the euro. The bank said in a report that the country’s economy would grow just 0.5 percent. The government has forecast 1.1 percent growth, while the EU expects just 0.2 percent. “A gradual recovery of the global economy is expected in 2010, but the stability of that recovery will depend on reviving the functioning of the credit system and trust,” Provopoulos, a member of European Central Bank’s governing council, wrote in the report’s introduction. He urged the nation’s governing conservatives not to relax spending restrictions.
■AUTOMOBILES
Delphi cutting 800 jobs
Nearly 800 jobs are being eliminated at the steering division of Delphi Corp near Saginaw, Michigan. The cuts are hitting 425 hourly workers and 350 employees who are on salary. The layoffs were announced on Monday at the Delphi complex in Buena Vista Township and will kick in on March 1. Mike Hanley, president of United Auto Workers Local 699, says the news was anticipated. Delphi has had temporary furloughs since the start of the year. Hanley told the Saginaw News blue-collar workers who volunteer to leave would get severance.
■INTERNET
NY may tax downloads
New York Governor David Paterson has proposed a tax on Internet downloads, a spokesman said on Monday, in a move that has raised eyebrows because it could apply to everything from software to pornography. The 4 percent tax would apply to downloads of music, software, books, videos and other Internet content, a spokesman for Paterson said. “It is a general proposal, not focused on the content, so it would apply to any download, regardless of the content,” Errol Cockfield said. The governor has floated the idea as a way of closing the state’s US$15 billion budget deficit, but critics say the proposal would likely apply to the hugely lucrative Internet pornography industry and could even drive business away from the state.
■COSMETICS
L’Oreal profits plunge
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal on Monday announced a 26.6 percent drop in its net profit last year, but just narrowly missed its growth target for the year. The world’s biggest beauty company posted profits of 1.95 billion euros (US$2.46 billion), down more than a quarter from 2007, an exceptional year thanks to the sell-off of a stake in pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis that generated 1.5 billion euros. Sales totaled 17.54 billion euros last year, up 3.1 percent from the previous year. The company had set a target of around 4 percent growth for the year.
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