■OIL
Caracas ends Colombia deal
Venezuela will not renew a recently expired deal that provided Colombia gasoline at cut-rate prices, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Wednesday, amid simmering tensions between the South American neighbors. “The agreement was valid for one year, ending yesterday [Tuesday] and we do not see any reason to renew it,” said the minister, who also heads state oil giant PDVSA. His comments come amid heightened cross-border tensions over Colombia’s decision to allow US troops and contractors to use seven of its military bases for anti-drug and anti-terrorism operations. “We are not inclined to continue subsidizing the Colombian economy when they take such totally unfriendly decisions against our people,” Ramirez said.
■JAPAN
Recovery may lose steam
Japan’s economic recovery could lose steam later this year if exports and production slow because of weak overseas demand, a senior central banker said yesterday. “It remains highly uncertain whether the economic upturn will continue,” said Atsushi Mizuno, a member of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy board. The job market was still weak and big companies were pressing ahead with cost cuts, he said in a speech in the western Japan prefecture of Okayama. “There also are risks the recovery momentum in production and exports will slow from the autumn onwards, reflecting the weak US and European recovery,” he said.
■NORWAY
Recession ended in Q2
The economy emerged from recession in the second quarter following two consecutive quarters of negative growth, official figures released yesterday showed. Mainland GDP, which excludes the oil and gas sectors and the shipping industry, grew 0.3 percent in the three months to June after a 1.3 percent decline in the first quarter of this year and 1 percent fall in the fourth quarter of last year. Mainland GDP is considered a better indicator of the Scandinavian country’s economic health, since the oil and gas sector represents 25 percent of its economic growth but employs only about one percent of its working-age population.
■SOUTH KOREA
Seoul mulls tax reductions
Seoul intends to provide 3.6 trillion won (US$2.9 billion) in tax reductions and exemptions to help small businesses and low-income earners, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said. The government will extend by two years a lower value-added tax rate for restaurants, motels and retailers and remove it from medicines to treat diseases such as AIDS, the ministry said. It will also extend corporate tax breaks for smaller companies investing in factories and startup businesses. “The economy and job market conditions are expected to improve from the second half but difficulties for ordinary people’s lives are likely to continue due to income decline and job market deterioration,” the ministry said.
■RETAIL
Tesco opens Glascow center
Tesco, the UK’s biggest retailer, said yesterday its personal finance unit would open a customer center in Scotland, creating 800 jobs and bringing the group nearer to providing full banking services. Tesco Personal Finance (TFP), which provides credit cards, small loans and insurance policies, will open a new center in Glasgow during the first half of next year, Tesco said in a statement. The firm said the center would be built with the help of a Scottish government grant of £5 million (US$8.3 million).
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