■Crude oil
Doubts rise over supplies
Crude oil surged to within US$0.18 of a three-month high after OPEC said it won't boost output for at least two weeks to make up for a strike that choked off exports from Venezuela, the No. 4 supplier to the US. The extension of the Venezuela strike into a fourth week comes as Iraq said it has no information to add to its Dec. 8 report to the US denying it has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The US has accused Iraq of building such weapons and said the country may need to be disarmed by force. "Venezuela's strike has taken oil off the market, and now Iraq's a potential problem again," said Dennis Kongsiri, vice president of Mitsui & Co. Energy Risk Management in Sydney.
■ Investment
Vietnam loses foreigners
One in five foreign investment projects in Vietnam in the past 14 years have been abandoned because of bureaucracy, corruption, the obscure legal system and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it was reported yesterday. According to the Dau Tu (Investment) economic daily, 884 foreign investment projects worth US$10.53 billion have been scuppered since the 1988 reform of the investments code that contributed towards the opening of the communist country to the market economy. This figure represented nearly 20 percent of the total projects agreed to by the Vietnam government, said the newspaper, citing the investment ministry. It did not give details about the projects.
■ Internet Access
KT Corp to double speeds
KT Corp, the world's biggest provider of high-speed Internet access, said it will start offering connections at almost double the speed of its existing service to maintain its lead over rivals. South Korea's biggest phone company will use an upgraded network to allow home users download information at 20 megabits a second, KT said in a release. The test service, to be offered initially in 12 apartment complexes starting tomorrow, will enable subscribers to receive high-definition television signals and films through phone lines. KT and its rivals such as Hanaro Telecom Inc, have signed more than 10 million Koreans to high-speed Internet services to boost shrinking phone sales.
■ Spanish lottery
Money floods country
Spain's traditional Christmas lottery unleashed a downpour of money, flooding the country with a total of 1.7 billion euros when the winning numbers were announced on Sunday. The biggest lottery in the world, this year's wins were the highest ever. Especially happy were people in the small towns of Velez-Rubio in the southeast and Calahorra in the northern wine producing region of La Rioja, where the lucky winners were reported to have streamed into the streets and raised many a glass with their neighbors. The main prize of 2 million euros -- called "el Gordo" or "the big one" -- fell to the number 08103, a number considered by many experienced players as "ugly" and therefore less lucky because of the zero at the beginning. In many locales, tickets with this number were bought only in the last few days before the drawing. In Velez-Rubio, these "non-sellers" went to the players of the local football team who learned they had become millionaires 10 minutes after the start of the game.
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
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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