■Airlines
US tries to block alliance
The US will try to block a planned alliance of Delta Air Lines Inc, Northwest Airlines Corp and Continental Airlines Inc after the carriers rejected some government conditions aimed at promoting competition. The Transportation Department will file an unfair competition complaint before an administrative law judge that may result in an order to stop the alliance unless the carriers agree to the restrictions, spokesman Bill Mosley said. The conditions include giving up some airport gates and limiting the flights on which they would jointly sell tickets.
■ Linux
IBM wins more business
International Business Machines Corp won orders from Unilever NV, VeriSign Inc and the US Professional Golfers' Association tour, all of which use the Linux operating system. Terms weren't disclosed. IBM will run server computers, provide video over the Internet and offer other services as part of the agreements, spokeswoman Trink Guarino said. IBM is increasing the number of Linux software programs that it sells. Linux is distributed free over the Internet, and companies are paid to help run the system and tailor it for customers. IBM, which trails Microsoft Corp as the world's second-largest software company, is pushing the use of Linux as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows operating system. The company's other Linux customers include Merrill Lynch & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Lehman Brothers Inc. IBM is the world's largest computer maker and provider of computer-related services.
■ Venezuela
Cash lures strikers to work
Venezuela persuaded more than a third of oil tanker pilots striking in the west of the country to accept years of back pay in exchange for returning to work after a 51-day strike cut shipments and drove up world prices of crude. The decision by 16 of about 45 pilots to abandon the walkout is significant because they are the first among 26,000 oil industry employees that union officials say are on strike to take such a vote. Analysts said it may be a sign that President Hugo Chavez will have success convincing more they should go back to work. Opposition leaders who pressed the national protest as a way to force Chavez from office pledged to counter the government's proposal by offering cash to workers. The remaining striking pilots said they would wait another day to consider both offers.
■ Television
MTV Europe to get boost
MTV, a music television channel owned by Viacom Inc, will double spending on original European programming after profit in the region rose by about 40 percent, the Financial Times said, citing Bill Roedy, president of MTV Networks International. MTV will develop more digital-type channels and start new regional services, such as MTV Africa, the paper cited unidentified senior executives as saying. It will also promote legal Internet subscription services for downloading music, the FT said. Eight out of 10 MTV viewers are outside the US, the paper cited Roedy, who was speaking at the Midem music conference in Cannes, France, as saying. Roedy was promoting new artists and programming across the company's 65 non-US channels, the FT said. He declined to say exactly how much the company would spend on the new services, according to the paper.
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