■Toys
Wal-Mart dumps pregnant doll
Barbie having babies? Stick to playing nurse and Rapunzel, say Wal-Mart shoppers. Barbie's long-time pal, Midge -- now married and pregnant -- was yanked from Wal-Mart Stores Inc shelves earlier this month after customers complained about the doll, a company spokeswoman said. Midge is sold as part of the "Happy Family" set, wearing a tiny wedding ring and a detachable stomach with a curled-up baby inside. Her husband, Alan, and 3-year-old child Ryan are sold separately. Melissa Berryhill, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, declined to comment on whether shoppers objected specifically to the doll being sold alone, which may suggest teenage pregnancy, rather than being sold with the rest of the family. "We make every decision on which items to carry based on customer demand, and that was the reason for this. Customers were unhappy with the offering," Berryhill said. Some shoppers said they were not convinced Wal-Mart's priorities were on target. "Wal-Mart pulling Barbie because she's pregnant, but they still sell guns and ammo?" said Laura Jamieson of San Francisco.
■ Phone services
StarHub starts in Singapore
StarHub Pte Ltd launched residential fixed-line telephone services yesterday in a quest to shake the monopoly of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd in the city-state. Analysts however said SingTel's dominance in the residential fixed-line phone market, in which it has 1.2 million customers, remained secure. StarHub is Singapore's second-largest telecoms provider and has so far been offering mobile-phone, broadband-Internet and cable-television services. It has also been offering fixed-line services to selected commercial buildings for some time. StarHub is targeting a modest 5,000 subscribers in its first year.
■ Retail
US retailers give up hope
US retailers, including the world's biggest, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, have all but given up hope that post-Christmas shopping sprees will kick-start sluggish sales, even as bargain hunters make their annual pilgrimage to the malls. Armed with gift certificates and unwanted presents on the day after Christmas, consumers hit shopping centers, some opening as early as 7am, to pick up half-priced holiday decorations, winter coats and even cashmere sweaters. But Wal-Mart lowered its sales forecast for December, saying a last-minute surge in demand was too little and too late to make up for a slow start, and sounding another grim note for a sector already braced for what is forecast to be the weakest sales season in more than 30 years.
■ Productivity
Japan's economy falls further
Japan's economy showed further signs of trouble in November as factory production posted its largest fall in a year and more people gave up their hunt for jobs, government data showed yesterday. Industrial output plunged a sharper-than-expected 2.2 percent from October, in the third straight month of decline, hit by lower production of train carriages, personal computers and electronic toys, the trade ministry said. A surprise drop in Japan's unemployment rate over the month to 5.3 percent from a record high 5.5 percent in October was misleading as it mainly reflected a decline in the number of people trying to find work, economists said.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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