■Crude oil
It's now US$33 a barrel
Crude oil rose above US$33 a barrel for the first time in more than two years on concern the US may attack Iraq early next year and street protests in Venezuela look set to disrupt oil supplies for a fifth week. The US military will be prepared should President George W. Bush decide to use force to disarm Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein of any chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said. UN weapons inspectors in Iraq will report their findings by the end of January, Powell said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Crude oil may rise to US$40 a barrel if the attack begins, he said. Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as US$0.45, or 1.4 percent, to US$33.17 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Dec. 1, 2000. It traded at US$33.05 at 2:59pm Singapore time.
■ Power industry
China breaks up sector
China on Sunday broke its massive state power company into 11 smaller firms in a move to encourage greater competition, the state-controlled Xinhua News Agency reported. The dismantled State Power Corp will spin off its power generating assets to five smaller companies, each controlling less than 20 percent of the country's electricity generating capacity, Xinhua said. Two other companies will operate power grids and four companies will handle peripheral business operations, the report said. The five electricity generators will be forced to compete for contracts with the grid operators, State Power Grid and Southern Power Grid, according to State Power Corp's Web site.
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
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
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
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