■JAPAN
Unemployment rises
The jobless rate jumped to its highest level in more than four years in March and household spending extended its slide, underscoring the ongoing pain for the world’s second-biggest economy. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said yesterday that unemployment rose to 4.8 percent, up from 4.4 percent in February and the worst reading since August 2004. The actual number of unemployed jumped 25 percent from a year earlier to 3.35 million, while the number of employed workers fell 1.4 percent. Anxiety over jobs led families to spend less, with average monthly household spending declining 0.4 percent from the previous year.
■BANKING
Credit card firms on notice
The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to rein in credit card companies accused of duping and gouging consumers already hurt by the paralyzing global recession. Spurred by the US public’s anger at banks, lawmakers voted 357-70 for legislation aimed at curbing arbitrary interest rate increases and ensuring cardholders who pay bills on time do not face unfair penalties and fees. The “Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights” also seeks to shield consumers from misleading small print in card contracts, empower cardholders to set their own credit limits and require companies to fairly allocate payments. The legislative battle now moves to the Senate.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Insolvencies hit record high
Nearly 5,000 companies in England and Wales went into liquidation and a record number of people succumbed to insolvency in the first three months of the year, official data showed yesterday. The Insolvency Service said company liquidations rose 56 percent from a year ago to a seasonally-adjusted 4,941. Personal insolvencies rose 19 percent to a seasonally adjusted 29,774, the highest since records began in 1960. The figures show the continuing pressures facing businesses and consumers as Britain suffers its sharpest economic decline in decades and analysts expect conditions to remain tough for many months to come.
■BANKING
Macquarie profits slump
Australia’s biggest investment bank Macquarie Group said yesterday its annual profits had more than halved, as it was hammered by massive asset write-downs sparked by the global economic crisis. Macquarie, once dubbed the “millionaire’s factory,” recorded its first profit fall in 17 years, dropping 52 percent to A$871 million (US$632 million) from A$1.8 billion a year earlier. The bank booked A$2.5 billion in asset and loan write-downs in the year to March because of deteriorating market conditions, including the falling value of funds. Market conditions are likely to remain tough as much of the world slips into recession, but there were signs of stabilization in March and last month, the bank said.
■TELECOMS
Motorola losses grow
Weak cellphone sales dialed down first-quarter sales and revenue at Motorola, the company reported on Tuesday. But it predicted that a series of new phones, powered by Google’s Android operating system, would turn its fortunes around later this year. Motorola’s net loss grew to US$231 million, compared with US$194 million a year ago. Sales slumped to US$5.37 billion compared with sales of US$7.4 billion last year. The company’s problems stem from its inability to come up with a successor to its hit Razr phone earlier in the decade.
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