■FINANCE
Bank discloses exposure
Deutsche Bank said on Thursday it has 3.2 billion euros (US$4 billion) in exposure to government bonds and loans from Greece, Ireland and Italy, three countries struggling to get their finances in order, chief executive Josef Ackermann told shareholders at the group’s annual general assembly in Frankurt. It also had exposure of 500 billion euros to Greek government bonds and loans and another 200 million euros to such investments in Ireland, while it had no exposure to Spain and Portugal. Financial market fears of a European debt crisis have focused on the five countries because of their high deficits, debts or both, which has triggered an unprecedented crisis for the 11-year-old eurozone. According to figures from the Bank for International Settlements at the end of last month, German banks had exposure at the end of last year of US$45 billion to Greece, US$47.5 billion to Portugal and US$237 billion to Spain.
■ITALY
Quarter of economy untaxed
Nearly a quarter of the country’s economy goes untaxed, representing a loss to the state of 120 billion euros a year, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi disclosed on Thursday. “Twenty-two percent of the economy is not declared to tax authorities,” Berlusconi told a meeting of the OECD. He said tax evasion amounted to “at least 120 billion euros.” Stamping out tax evasion and the operation of an underground economy are among austerity measures valued at 24 billion euros unveiled this week by the Italian government as a means of reducing its public deficit.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota sales surge
Japanese automaker Toyota yesterday said global sales surged 21.3 percent year-on-year last month, despite millions of safety recalls worldwide that have left it facing a series of lawsuits in the US. The Toyota group, which includes brands Daihatsu and Hino trucks, said it sold 671,921 vehicles last month, up from 554,034 a year earlier, spokesman Paul Nolasco said. The figure was lower than March sales of 876,126, however. The world’s largest automaker said global production jumped 53.8 percent to 667,495 units compared to a year ago, when the industry was in the grip of the financial crisis. Second-largest maker Honda Motor marked its 10th straight monthly increase of domestic sales, which rose 9.5 percent on-year. Third-largest Nissan saw global production rise 57 percent on-year to 319,673, what it called an all time record for April.
■INTERNET
Germany warns Facebook
Germany’s national consumer-protection agency may take legal measures against Facebook if it finds that the social network’s new privacy controls do not meet German data-protection standards. Carola Elbrecht, head of digital projects at the VZBV agency, welcomed the changes to privacy settings announced by Facebook late on Wednesday, but expressed concern that users would still have to actively opt out of default settings making their data public. “This obligates the user, and that’s a transgression of German law,” Elbrecht said on Thursday. “We are currently examining the terms and condition of data storage and usage, and if it again does not comply with German data protection standards we will file for an injunction.” Germany has some of the toughest privacy laws in the world as a result of its experience with state surveillance systems put in place by the Nazis and the former East German Stasi secret police.
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