■SOUTH KOREA
Eastern Europe a concern
Concerns over a potential meltdown in Eastern Europe are causing instability in global markets, Minister of Finance and Strategy Yoon Jeung-hyun said yesterday. “As Eastern European economies are exposed to a possible financial crisis, worries over additional global financial turmoil increase, causing foreign exchange rates, interest rates and stock prices to fluctuate,” Yoon said. Last month, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said “all the ingredients for a crisis are in place” in Eastern Europe because of rising government debt and a heavy reliance on foreign lending.
■AUTOMOBILES
European output to fall 25%
European auto output will fall 25 percent this year as the industry struggles with the global economic crisis, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Wednesday. “Our forecast for production is 25 percent down in 2009, compared with 2008,” ACEA president Carlos Ghosn said. “For the moment, our forecast is 25 percent,” said Ghosn, who also heads Renault. “Things are changing all the time. The forecast I gave you today was not the same as the forecast I gave you last week. Last week, it was down 15 percent,” he said. In January, new car sales fell 27 percent to the lowest level in 20 years, the ACEA said last month.
■INSURANCE
Aviva reports net loss
British insurance giant Aviva yesterday reported a net loss of £885 million (US$1.25 billion) for last year, citing the falling value of its assets. Operating profits — earnings before tax and other payments — were up four percent to £2.297 billion. “Bottom line earnings have been affected by investment markets which have predictably created significant unrealised losses during the year,” Aviva CEO Andrew Moss said in the earnings statement. But in “a tumultuous year, our underlying business has shown great resilience,” he said. “Operating profits are up and we have maintained our dividend.”
■AUTOMOBILES
Ford to buy back bonds
Ford Motor Co announced plans on Wednesday to reduce the cost of servicing its massive debt by buying back some bonds and swapping others for stock. Ford is offering to spend up to US$2.2 billion to retire up to US$10.4 billion in debt, spokesman Mark Truby said. Ford, which has lost nearly US$30 billion in the past three years, has about US$25 billion in outstanding debt. “The debt restructuring plan we are announcing today is a critical step in Ford’s overall transformation,” Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.
■ALCOHOL
InBev profits plunge
Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev’s fourth-quarter profit plunged 95 percent because of the costs of the takeover that formed it last year as well as falling beer sales, the company said yesterday. The world’s largest brewer said it would focus on reducing the massive debt from InBev’s US$52 billion takeover of Anheuser Busch — and would aggressively shave costs and sell off some US$7 billion in assets. AB InBev reported 49 million euros (US$61 million) in profit compared with 900 million euros a year earlier. Total revenue was up 35 percent to 5.2 billion euros from 3.9 billion euros.
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