■AUSTRALIA
Iron ore, coal exports surge
Australian exports of iron ore and coal hit record levels in the final quarter of last year thanks to strong demand from Asia, official figures showed. Iron ore exports reached 98 million tonnes and coal shipments hit 74 million tonnes, with most of the shipments going to South Korea, Japan and China, the Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said. “The record volumes of bulk commodity exports in the December quarter were underpinned by demand from steel mills and power stations in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China,” bureau deputy executive director Paul Morris said.
■ECONOMICS
US household wealth rises
US household wealth jumped last year for the first time since a brutal recession struck the country, underscoring the impact of an economic recovery, data from the central bank showed on Thursday. The net worth of US households — the difference between their assets and liabilities — stood at US$54.18 trillion at the end of last year, a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year, the US Federal Reserve said. The last time Americans saw their net worth increase on an annual basis was in 2007.
■ENERGY
Italy building big solar plant
Europe’s most powerful solar power plant is set to start operations in Italy later this year, the US firm building the installation on an area as large as 120 football pitches said on Thursday. The plant in Rovigo near Venice in northeast Italy will take up 850,000m² and produce 72 megawatts, SunEdison said in a statement announcing the start of construction. The total investment will be between 200 million euros (US$273 million) and 250 million euros, the company said. Italy is the second-largest power producer in Europe after Germany.
■BANKING
Citigroup expects profits
Citigroup Inc is poised to return to “sustained profitability” as it sheds risky assets and focuses on emerging markets, CEO Vikram Pandit said on Thursday. Pandit didn’t give a timetable for returning to profitability, but he said Citigroup, the hardest hit US bank during the financial crisis, saw big opportunities in emerging markets, including Latin America and Asia, which generated about half of its revenue last year.
■HOME APPLIANCES
Haier to sell GE products
Chinese appliance maker Haier (海爾) said it has teamed up with General Electric to sell GE appliances in rural areas, the focus of subsidies intended to boost spending by hundreds of millions of farmers. Haier’s own sales of appliances jumped 30 percent last year thanks to a government program that pays subsidies to rural dwellers who trade in old appliances to buy new ones. The company said it was also working with Hewlett-Packard Co in rural sales through its Haier Ri Ri Shun Home Appliance Shops.
■GAMING
US videogame sales dip
NPD Group on Thursday said US videogame sales slid 15 percent last month to US$1.26 billion, defying optimism that the industry would rebound on a reviving economy. “The industry realized another month of decreased sales as compared to last year,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. Sales of videogame hardware plunged 20 percent to US$426.4 million, NPD said. While overall sales of videogame consoles dropped, Microsoft Xbox 360 outsold its rivals for the first time since September 2007.
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