■UNITED KINGDOM
Recovery may be near
Britain is “on the brink” of ending a deep recession after sentiment improved in the third quarter but the economy remains “frail,” the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said yesterday. “The Q3 results support our assessment that the UK economy is on the brink of leaving recession,” BCC chief economist David Kern said in a statement. “However, the improvement is not sufficiently strong to allow us to conclude without doubt that GDP has already returned to positive growth.” The BCC report contrasts with many analysts who believe Britain has exited recession by returning to positive GDP growth between July and last month. Britain must wait until Oct. 23 for official data.
■IRELAND
Economy to contract 7.2%
The recession-battered economy will contract by 7.2 percent this year before returning to growth late next year, the country’s top economic think tank forecast yesterday. The prediction from the Economic and Social Research Institute, contained in its latest quarterly report, was an improvement on the 7.9 percent contraction in GDP it estimated in July. The ESRI expects the economy to decline overall by another 1.1 percent next year. That was an improvement on the previous forecast of a 2.3 percent drop.
■FRANCE
Growth may hit 1% in 2010
The economy should grow by more than 1 percent next year, rather than the 0.75 percent that is currently projected, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said yesterday. “The worst of the [economic] crisis has passed,” he told RTL radio. “We have not been in recession since the second quarter of 2009. “The forecast that I have for 2010 is said by economists to be too cautious and growth will likely be more than 1.0 percent.” The French economy, after suffering four straight quarters of negative growth, managed to expand 0.3 percent in the second quarter this year. The government has forecast growth of 0.75 percent next year after an expected contraction of 2.25 percent this year.
■MEDIA
ITV hopes to raise funds
British commercial broadcaster ITV PLC said yesterday it is seeking to raise £120 million (US$190 million) through a convertible bond issue to bolster its finances and noted a stabilization in advertising demand. “The actions that we are announcing today continue our work over recent months to strengthen the balance sheet, improve our debt maturity profile and proactively manage our pension deficit over the long term,” said John Cresswell, the company’s chief operating officer. ITV said advertising revenue had continued to decline but at a slower rate in the second half of the year. It forecast that ad revenue would be down about 3 percent for the full year.
■INTERNET
Google board loses director
Genentech chairman Arthur Levinson has resigned from the board of directors of Google amid a probe by US authorities into his membership on the boards of Google and Apple. In a statement on Monday, Google did not give any reason for Levinson’s departure, but it comes just two months after Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from the board of Apple. US law prohibits a person from serving on the boards of two companies that are direct rivals, and the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation in May into the overlapping Google and Apple board memberships.
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