■INSURANCE
Swiss Re counts quake cost
Swiss Re said yesterday the insurance sector stood to lose US$4 billion to US$7 billion from the earthquake in Chile, a sum unlikely to bring the long hoped-for increase in reinsurance prices. The world’s second-biggest reinsurer estimated its own losses from the Chile disaster, one of the most powerful earthquakes in a century, at around US$500 million. The company said it would also lose around US$100 million from winter storm Xynthia, which caused widespread damage in northern Spain and France at the end of February.
■JAPAN
Machinery orders drop
Japanese machinery orders, a closely watched indicator of future business investment, fell in January as companies reined in spending after a big jump the previous month. Core machinery orders declined 3.7 percent from December to ¥723.8 billion (US$8 billion), the government said yesterday. The figure excludes often volatile numbers from shipbuilders and electric power companies. Despite the drop, the result beat expectations and confirmed an overall recovery in orders since bottoming last year. Economists surveyed by Kyodo News agency had predicted an average 4.4 percent fall.
■SINGAPORE
Poll shows brighter outlook
Economists have upped their growth outlook for Singapore as the city-state’s key industries continue to rebound from last year’s recession, according to a central bank poll. The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s survey of 20 private-sector economists showed they see average growth of 6.5 percent this year, higher than the previous forecast of 5.5 percent in December. They also raised their outlook for the city-state’s major industries including manufacturing, which is now predicted to expand an annual 9.7 percent from the previous forecast of 6.3 percent. Wholesale and retail trade is seen growing 8.4 percent instead of 7 percent, while construction is tipped to expand 8.9 percent, from a previous projection of 7.1 percent.
■PHILIPPINES
Export figures skyrocket
The Philippines said Wednesday that exports rose at their fastest pace in nearly 15 years in January as the nation reaped the benefits of an improving world economy. Exports amounted to US$3.58 billion in January, a 42.5 percent increase from the same month of last year, the National Statistics Office said. It was the fastest growth rate since April 1995, when the sector grew 42.62 percent, the office’s research division said. Electronics products, the country’s top export sector, which accounts for more than half of total shipments, rose 51.2 percent to US$2.03 billion year-on-year in January, it said.
■NETWORKING
Cisco upgrades backbone
Cisco Systems Inc said on Tuesday it is upgrading one of its biggest pieces of networking hardware, a router that’s used to power the most trafficked parts of the Internet backbone. Cisco, the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear, said it is replacing its aging CRS-1 core router, which was introduced in 2004, with a model that is three times faster, the CRS-3. It can handle 322 terabits of traffic per second, or simultaneous video calls for every person in China, Cisco said. While that much capacity may seem superfluous, Cisco said, increasing use of video online keeps Internet traffic growing. The CRS-3 will be available in the third quarter and sell for US$90,000 and up.
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