■AUSTRALIA
Consumer confidence dips
Consumer confidence has fallen slightly this month but remains “surprisingly good” largely because of a massive government economic stimulus package, a survey released yesterday showed. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index was 85.6 points in March, down 0.2 percent month-on-month and 3.4 percent lower than a year ago. “On the face of it this is a surprisingly good result,” Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said. Evans said the government’s A$42 billion (US$27.3 billion) stimulus package, which was passed by parliament last month, appeared to have put a floor under consumer confidence.
■ELECTRONICS
Samsung to hire 5,000 grads
Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, yesterday said it would hire 5,500 college graduates this year despite the global economic downturn. The company originally planned to recruit 4,000 full-time employees this year, compared with 7,500 last year. But the conglomerate has not set a group-wide investment plan for this year because of concerns about the deepening global crisis.
■AVIATION
Cathay posts yearly loss
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd racked up its first yearly loss in 10 years yesterday, citing bad bets on jet fuel costs and plummeting demand. Hong Kong’s flagship airline reported a loss for the 12 months ended Dec. 31 of about HK$8.6 billion (US$1.1 billion), the company said in a statement to the stock exchange. The loss, just slightly better than many analysts’ expectations, compared with a profit of HK$7 billion for 2007 and was the airline’s first annual red ink since the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1998. For all of last year, revenue grew by about 15 percent to more than HK$87 billion, the company said. As with a number of airlines around the world, Cathay suffered massive losses from bad bets on contracts meant to hedge against a rise in jet fuel prices during the first half of last year.
■FINANCE
HSBC to expand in China
Global banking giant HSBC said yesterday it would continue expanding its China network, already the largest of any foreign lender, despite the financial crisis. HSBC plans to boost its China outlets to around 100 from 82 at present and increase its payroll in the country by almost one-fifth to nearly 7,000 by the end of this year, according to a statement from the bank. “China is at the centre of the HSBC Group’s emerging markets strategy,” Richard Yorke, president and chief executive of HSBC China, said in the statement.
■CELLPHONES
Nokia unveils new models
Nokia Oyj, the world’s top maker of mobile phones, announced three new music phones and extended its online music store to Mexico. The 5030 music handset will have a base price of “less than 40 euros [US$51],” the Finnish company said in a statement yesterday. The 5730 XpressMusic handset will include a full slide-out keyboard and dedicated gaming keys for Nokia’s N-Gage games, at a price of 280 euros. A mid-range music phone, the 5330 XpressMusic, will have an estimated retail price of 160 euros. Nokia also announced more markets for its Music Store, which is part of its strategy to link cellphone sales with services and content to promote future purchases. The music service opened yesterday in Mexico. Portugal, Norway and South Africa will follow in coming months, Nokia said.
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