■ ENERGY
Ecuador to rejoin OPEC
Ecuador will return to OPEC's fold next month, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said in his weekly radio program on Saturday. Ecuador's bid is backed by Venezuela, the only Latin American member of OPEC. Ecuador produces 530,000 barrels of oil per day -- the country's top export -- and is the fifth-largest producer in South America. Correa had announced that Ecuador would apply to rejoin OPEC after he was elected last November. However, the Andean nation faces a debt to OPEC of US$5.3 billion left over from when it withdrew from the group.
■ AVIATION
HK airport's traffic soars
Hong Kong International Airport, Asia's third-busiest, said the number of flights it handled in the six months through last month rose 6 percent as a stronger euro boosted demand for Asia's goods. Planes carrying cargo increased 8.5 percent to 23,205 and passenger traffic rose 5.3 percent to 123,405, Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a statement yesterday. The European currency climbed 5.5 percent against the Hong Kong dollar in the same period. "The long-haul freight markets to the US and Europe have been particularly robust, with the latter benefiting from the appreciation of the euro," chief executive officer Stanley Hui (許漢忠) said in the statement.
■ RETAIL
Quixtar sues bloggers
Direct-marketing firm Quixtar Inc, a sister company of Amway Corp, has sued 30 people who anonymously posted what it considers disparaging remarks about Quixtar in blogs and online forums and in YouTube.com videos. In the lawsuit filed last week in Ottawa County Circuit Court, Quixtar seeks an injunction and damages of more than US$25,000 against the posters, identified only as John Does. Quixtar believes the videos and other postings are part of an organized effort by former distributors who unsuccessfully sued Alticor and are under court order not to disparage the company or disclose proprietary information, according to the lawsuit.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Seoul warns tax evaders
Seoul's city government yesterday threatened to ban thousands of delinquent taxpayers from traveling abroad in a rare campaign to collect nearly US$900 million in unpaid taxes, officials said. The city government said in a statement it would wage "a war against delinquent taxpayers" till year's end, vowing to mobilize all possible means. It said some 6,500 people, who each owe the city government 50 million won (US$54,000) or more in taxes, should pay the money by late next month or face a travel ban by the justice ministry. It said the amount of unpaid taxes totaled some US$890 million as of last week, adding 76 percent of the delinquents were rich enough to pay their unpaid taxes.
■ BEVERAGES
Kerela questions Coke
Kerala state government has asked US soft drinks giant Coca-Cola to respond to allegations that its bottling plant was polluting water and soil, an official said yesterday. The plant has been closed since March 2004 following a temporary ban by the government and subsequent protests by residents who say the facility was also depleting water in the region. "We have given them 15 days to respond to our notice," S.D. Jayaprasad, an official with Kerela's Pollution Control Board said.
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his