■ ECONOMY
US growth for Q4 at 0.6%
The US economy almost stalled in the final quarter of last year with a growth rate of just 0.6 percent, its worst year since 2002. The US Commerce Department's report on the GDP, released yesterday, showed an economy that had deteriorated considerably during the October-to-December quarter as worsening problems in the housing market and harder-to-get credit made individuals and businesses more cautious in their spending. Fears of a recession have grown. For all of last year, the economy grew by just 2.2 percent, the weakest performance in five years, when the country was struggling to recover from the 2001 recession.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Honda profits surge
Japan's second-largest automaker, Honda Motor Co, said yesterday that its third-quarter net profit surged 38.1 percent to a record high helped by solid sales in fast-growing emerging economies. Honda hiked its full-year forecast amid brisk demand in Brazil, Russia, China and India, which drove up profits despite feeble domestic sales and recession fears in the US, the world's largest auto market. Net profit rose to ?200 billion (US$1.87 billion) in the three months to last month from ?144.8 billion a year earlier, the company said. Operating profit jumped 34.7 percent to ?276.2 billion, also a record for the third quarter.
■ ELECTRONICS
Canon earnings jump
Japanese electronics maker Canon Inc said yesterday it posted record earnings this year on the back of brisk digital camera sales, although its net profit was slightly below expectations. The maker of Ixy, Powershot and EOS brand digital cameras said its sales were boosted by the launch of new models and a bottoming out of the decline in camera prices. Canon said its net profit went up 7.2 percent year-on-year to ?488.33 billion (US$4.6 billion) last year. For this year, the company is forecasting another record-breaking year, projecting net profit of ?520 billion and revenue of ?4.72 trillion.
■ FINANCE
GIC offers another bailout
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), fresh from multibillion-dollar capital injections into troubled global financial institutions, has the capacity for an additional bailout, a report said yesterday. "We will look at any deal that is shown to us. We have a duty to do so. We would still have the capacity if we find it worthwhile to invest," The Business Times quoted GIC executive director Tony Tan as saying. Earlier this month GIC said it would invest US$6.88 billion in US banking giant Citigroup. GIC also said it would pump almost US$10 billion into Swiss bank UBS.
■ DEVELOPMENT
Vietnam approves mill
Vietnam has given the green light for South Korea's POSCO Group to build the country's largest steel mill, a project valued at US$3.5 billion in its initial stage, state media said yesterday. The hot-rolled steel mill is to be built near Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, where People's Committee Chairman Vo Lam Phi said the national government approved its construction, the Vietnam News Agency said. POSCO, the world's third-largest steelmaker by output, and local ship builder Vinashin will build the mill at the Van Phong container port, a state-run paper said.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
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
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu