■ SOUTH KOREA
Economic growth at 5%
The economy expanded a revised 5 percent last year from a year earlier, the central bank said yesterday, increasing its earlier 4.9 percent estimate. GDP grew 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter from three months earlier, more than an initial estimate of 1.5 percent, a preliminary report by the Bank of Korea said. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is targeting 6 percent growth this year. Moody's Economy.com forecasts a growth rate of around 4 percent this year and the central bank's forecast for this year was 4.7 percent.
■ INTERNET
EBay cuts 125 jobs
Internet auctioneer eBay Inc said on Thursday it was cutting 125 jobs in Europe and North America, including 70 positions at the online auctioneer's headquarters in San Jose, California. Company spokesman Jose Mallabo said the work force reduction was part of a reorganization to streamline operations -- not cut costs. The cuts amount to less than 1 percent of the company's global head count of 15,500 people. Mallabo says the cuts in Belgium, Spain and Austria are the result of a centralization of corporate functions. He wouldn't talk about what jobs were affected at headquarters.
■ AVIATION
Aloha files for bankruptcy
Aloha Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, a little more than two years after emerging from bankruptcy. Aloha said it would continue to fly as long as a bankruptcy court accepts the airline's financial plan to keep operating. The airline said in its filing that it was unable to generate sufficient revenue because of "predatory pricing" by Mesa Air Group Inc's go! airline. In January, go! reported a US$20 million operating loss in its first 16 months of operations. Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines reported combined losses of nearly US$65 million since go! began operating.
■ INSURANCE
Allianz expects write-downs
Insurer Allianz SE said it expected to make further write-downs in the first quarter of this year amid ongoing turbulence on international financial markets. Allianz head Michael Diekmann said in the company's annual report, released on Thursday, that because he could not rule out further write-downs, it had become "clearly more difficult" to reach the company's goal of 10 percent growth by next year. Last month, the company said that Dresdner's write-downs in its asset-backed securities trading book amounted to US$2 billion last year, of which US$1.4 billion was in the fourth quarter.
■ INVESTMENT
Fed offer attracts firms
Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the US Federal Reserve's unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans, the central bank reported on Thursday. Those large firms averaged US$13.4 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending facility. The report does not identify the borrowers. The Fed, in a bold move last Sunday, agreed for the first time to let big investment houses get emergency loans directly from the central bank. This mechanism, similar to one available for commercial banks for years, got under way on Monday and will continue for at least six months. It was the broadest use of the Fed's lending authority since the 1930s.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
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