■INTERNET
Web spending rises 4%
Online spending increased to US$15.3 billion this holiday season, a gain of 4 percent from the same period last year, ComScore Inc said. Sales of US$886 million last Tuesday nearly met this year’s record-matching Cyber Monday spending of US$887 million, research company ComScore said in a statement on its Web site. The report includes the first 34 days of the holiday shopping season that began on Nov. 1. Cyber Monday “was followed by several other strong online spending days helping to accelerate the growth rate,” ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in the statement. The first Monday after Thanksgiving is known as Cyber Monday because consumers return to work after the holiday and make purchases online. ComScore has said it expects Internet retail spending to rise 3 percent for the entire season. Sales of consumer electronics and computer hardware have achieved “double-digit” growth rates compared to the same period last year, Fulgoni said.
■STEEL
German production rises
German steel production increased last month, a report said yesterday, a sign the economic situation in Europe’s largest economy is improving. The Federal Statistical Office said German mills produced 2.49 million tonnes of pig iron, an 8.1 percent increase over November last year. They produced 3.9 million tonnes of raw steel, up 8 percent. Compared with October, production of pig iron was up 7 percent while raw steel was up 2.4 percent. Despite the improvements, the impact of the recession over the past year remained evident. For the first 11 months of the year, pig iron production was 35 percent below last year’s levels, while raw steel production was 32 percent lower.
■ENERGY
PNG LNG project announced
US energy group Exxon Mobil said yesterday it had reached an agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc to supply it with gas from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea. Under the binding agreement, the PNG LNG Project to be operated by Exxon would feed the Japanese company some 1.8 million tonnes of LNG each year for 20 years, it said. The project plans to develop gas fields in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands and Western Province and transport the gas via pipeline to a LNG facility near Port Moresby for shipment overseas. Although final investment decisions are yet to be made, it is expected that the first shipments will be delivered by late 2013 or early 2014.
■BEVERAGES
Plans brewing at Heineken
Heineken NV agreed to buy Asia Pacific Breweries India and sell stakes in PT Multi Bintang Indonesia and Grande Brasserie de Nouvelle-Caledonie. Heineken signed a shareholders’ agreement with United Breweries Ltd and agreed on terms for the brewing and distribution of Heineken in India, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement distributed by Hugin yesterday. Heineken will sell a stake of 68.5 percent in PT Multi Bintang Indonesia to Asia Pacific Breweries for 157 million euros. The brewer will also sell its 87.3 percent interest in Grande Brasserie de Nouvelle-Caledonie to APB for 57 million euros (US$232 million). Heineken said the effect of the transactions will be “broadly neutral” at net income level. The company expects a book gain of 145 million euros next year. Heineken will continue to hold a 42 percent stake in APB.
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