■FINANCE
UK prioritizes PRC ties
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling pledged to further strengthen ties between London and Beijing at a Britain-China economic summit later yesterday. Darling, in a comment piece in the Times newspaper, said the two countries had to do more to push an agreement reached at last month’s G20 summit in London, promote ties between the two financial markets, enhance trade links and tie economic growth to environmental sustainability. “Thousands of jobs, now and in the future, depend on it,” Darling wrote ahead of the summit in London.
■AVIATION
UK air traffic down
BAA Ltd, owner of London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, said traffic declined for a 13th consecutive month as the recession curbed demand for air travel. Passenger numbers at BAA’s seven British airports fell 2.3 percent to 11.5 million last month from a year earlier, London-based BAA, owned by Spanish builder Grupo Ferrovial SA, said in a statement yesterday. Traffic is declining as airlines including British Airways Plc and Air France-KLM Group cut capacity to match falling demand for flights. BAA, which reported a first-quarter loss of £228.8 million (US$348 million) at its three London airports on May 5, said the “outlook remains challenging.”
■FINLAND
Recession hits exports
The country had a trade deficit in March, the second this year, as the global recession hurt exports. The deficit was 20 million euros (US$27.3 million), compared with a revised surplus of 35 million euros the month before and 165 million euros a year earlier, Helsinki-based Finnish Customs said on its Web site yesterday, citing preliminary figures. The country’s 15 years of average monthly surpluses of at least 400 million euros have eroded since last summer, pushing the country to near balance as world trade sputters. Exports plunged 32 percent to 3.82 billion euros in March from a year earlier, while imports declined 29 percent to 3.84 billion euros.
■SHIPPING
Philippine firm seeks loan
International Container Terminal Services Inc, the Philippines’ largest port operator, is in talks with banks to obtain a three-year loan to help it refinance debt early, the company’s treasurer said. “We are looking to refinance US$150 million and hoping to achieve a three-year maturity,” Rafael Consing said in a cellphone message yesterday. “We are in discussions with potential lenders for early refinancing of our debt due 2010.” The Manila-based company, which has terminals in 10 other countries including China, has US$589 million in outstanding debt.
■CHINA
Inflation weakens
China’s inflation weakened further last month, with the consumer price index falling 1.5 percent from a year ago, the government said yesterday. Compared with a month earlier, the index, the main gauge of inflation, was down 0.2 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The continued decline in consumer prices comes as China struggles with the most serious economic slowdown in nearly two decades. The deflation reflects the weaknesses in the economy over the past six months, Standard Chartered’s China economist Stephen Green said. “At the moment, we are only in the midst of a very gradual U-shaped recovery. So that will have probably gradual effects on prices,” Green said, adding that he expected prices to be flat by the end of 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
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