■ Television
HBO TV may axe `Sex'
The end could be in sight for hit TV comedy Sex in the City, according to the New York Daily News quoting a cast member. Actress Cynthia Nixon said that the upcoming episodes of the sexy HBO television series will be the last for the show. Production on the next season is scheduled to begin in February, but new episodes are not likely to surface until next summer. The paper quoted a source at the HBO channel which produces the show as saying that no decision had been made on the future of the program.
■ Interest rates
Fed likely to reduce rates
The Federal Reserve was likely to lower interest rates yesterday to shore up the economy, which is slumping at the start of the holiday shopping season. Rising US unemployment and declining consumer confidence since the last Fed policy meeting six weeks ago has changed perceptions about the recovery and given central bankers reason to lower the benchmark overnight bank lending rate for the first time this year, economists said. "Consumers have been holding this economy together and continued weakness on the employment side is making consumers more weary," said Amy Crews Cutts, an economist at Freddie Mac, the second largest buyer of US home mortgages. "If the Fed is looking for bad news, they've got that." The overnight rate has been at the current 41-year low of 1.75 percent since December 2001. The Fed's policy-setting Open Market Committee was to meet at 9am Washington time and was likely to announce a decision at about 2:15pm.
■ Internet
Amazon selling used goods
Amazon.com Inc, the world's No. 1 Internet retailer, began selling used books, compact music discs, video games and DVDs on its Japanese-language Web site. Sales began yesterday, the president of Amazon's Japan unit said. Used goods for sale are limited to the kinds of new products the company currently sells, or to those among Amazon's online catalog of about 5.5 million items. "The service is part of Amazon.com's strategy globally," said Jasper Cheung, president of Amazon Japan K.K. "Japan is the fastest growing country" in revenue growth among nations where Amazon runs operations, he said. The service, known as Amazon Marketplace, currently operates in the US, the UK and Germany, the company said. Payment is only available by credit cards. Amazon Japan will receive commission fees from sellers worth 15 percent of sales.
■ Internet services
Microsoft moving into China
Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software company, is in talks to acquire Sohu.com Inc, one of China's largest providers of Internet services, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported, citing unidentified industry sources. Microsoft plans to expand its Microsoft Network Web site into the world's most populous nation by acquiring Sohu, the report said. Microsoft wants to offer Internet services in China to compete with AOL Time Warner Inc, the world's largest media company, which has entered China through a venture with Legend Group Ltd, the report said. Sohu last month posted its first quarterly profit since the company listed on the US NASDAQ exchange in July 2000. The shares, which soared 60 cents, or 17.9 percent to US$3.95 yesterday, have almost doubled in value since the end of August.
Agencies
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
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
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
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