■CHINA
More funds missing
More than US$34.4 billion went missing from public funds in China in the first 11 months of the year, state media said yesterday, with national auditors highlighting embezzlement, waste and fraud. More than 230 people, including 67 government officials, have been handed over to disciplinary or judicial authorities for their roles in the missing funds, the China Daily said, citing the National Audit Office. The audit covered 99,000 companies, government agencies and public institutions across the nation, Liu Jiayi (劉家義), China’s top auditor, told a national auditing conference.
■FRANCE
Economy grows 0.3 percent
The French economy grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter, the national statistics agency INSEE said yesterday, confirming estimates made last month. However, the government maintains that the economy will shrink by 2.25 percent for the year because of the deep recession that set in from late last year, even though France emerged from the slowdown in the second quarter of this year.
■HONG KONG
Donald Tsang pessimistic
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) yesterday sounded a pessimistic note on the city’s economic recovery, warning it may experience a “double dip in the middle of next year.” Tsang said from Beijing that Hong Kong’s economic recovery “would not proceed smoothly, and I am prepared,” Dow Jones said. “I am a bit pessimistic about the pace of recovery and we may experience a double dip in the middle of next year,” Tsang said. However, he said the city’s government had a reserve of HK$500 billion (US$64 billion), which was “enough for two years worth of expenses,” RTHK reported.
■FINANCE
Banker sentenced to prison
A court in Spain sentenced the chief executive of the country’s biggest bank, Santander, to six months in prison on Monday for making false accusations against clients 15 years ago. The court found Alfredo Saenz carried out the deception when he was head of Santander subsidiary Banesto. Banesto has said it will appeal the sentence. Saenz is not however expected to serve any time in prison as he has no prior convictions.
■SOUTH KOREA
Account surplus continues
South Korea recorded an account surplus for the 10th straight month last month thanks partly to brisk exports, the central bank said yesterday. The surplus was US$4.28 billion last month, down from a revised US$4.76 billion in October, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. In the first 11 months of this year the accumulated surplus amounted to a record high of US$41.2 billion. The current account, the broadest measure of trade with the world, has remained in surplus since February as imports have fallen faster than exports amid the global downturn.
■SOUTH KOREA
Court clears ex-officials
An appeals court yesterday cleared two former South Korean officials of charges they helped private equity firm Lone Star buy a shaky local bank on the cheap in 2003, clearing the way for the buyout group to sell the lender. The court upheld a ruling last year that cleared former finance ministry official Byeon Yang-ho and former Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) chief Lee Kang-won of breach of trust charges. It was alleged they conspired to understate KEB’s value.
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