EU finance ministers were to try again yesterday to amend rules for securing a stable euro, weighing new ideas that go a long way to meet German and French demands for more slack to spend their way out of economic downturns.
EU nations have been deadlocked for months on rewriting the euro's "Stability and Growth Pact" while leaving intact the key requirement that a euro-zone nation's annual budget gap cannot exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product.
Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over the reform talks, said last week negotiations had degenerated into finger-pointing.
Yesterday's meeting was not expected to be much different, and the EU leaders may be left to strike a deal tomorrow when they open a two-day summit in Brussels.
Germany and France -- the two biggest euro-zone economies and the most notable offenders of the euro rules -- want more leeway to reverse economic downturns.
Officials said Juncker had gone far to meet their concerns, proposing that violators of the euro stability pact invoke their own mitigating circumstances to escape punishment.
Germany wants credit for the costs of German unification as well as its payments to the EU budget that total 22 percent of total outlays. France wants to use its spending on research and defense as an excuse to break the 3-percent norm.
The Netherlands, Sweden and others oppose weakening the 3-percent norm
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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