■ Semiconductors
EU tariffs sought on Hynix
The European Commission plans to bring punitive tariffs against South Korean semiconductor maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc for selling chips below production cost, German business daily Handelsblatt said, citing unidentified people from Trade Commis-sioner Pascal Lamy's office. Hynix has received "bil-lions" worth of subsidies from the South Korean government, allowing the world's third-largest chip maker to sell direct random access memory, or DRAM, semiconductors below production cost, the paper said. A spokesman for Lamy declined to comment, the report said. Industry experts expect a tariff of as much as 30 percent on Hynix's chips, the paper said.
■ Asia
Domestic focus urged
Asia will have to rethink its export-oriented growth formula and look more at domestic consumption if it wants to continue climbing up the economic ladder, a regional economist said yesterday. Against the backdrop of a volatile global economy, Asia will have to rely less on exports which have been the mainstay of the region's economic growth over the past decade, said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong. "The way forward I think is we have to ignite our own consumption revolution in the region," said Hedrick-Wong, an economic advisor to credit card giant MasterCard International. "We must create a much more balanced structure platform for growth in the Asia-Pacific," he said at a briefing in Singapore outlining the challenges facing the region. Citing South Korea, he said the surge in domestic demand had generated positive spin-offs for the economy, particularly in developing the services sector.
■ Telecoms
FCC to let states decide
The US Federal Communi-cations Commission approved new rules to give states more authority over the US$125 billion US local-telephone market, dealing a setback to the Baby Bells and FCC chairman Michael Powell. The FCC voted 3 to 2 for guidelines giving state regulators final say over what parts of local carriers' phone networks must be leased to rivals at discounts. The Bells, whose shares fell, won't have to share new fiber-optic lines for Internet access. The vote undercuts Powell's attempt to enact the biggest changes in phone regulations since the 1996 Telecommunications Act. He wanted the FCC to relax rules forcing the big local carriers to lease equip-ment at discounts, saying they discourage investment. But state regulators argued the low rates spur compe-tition and help companies such as AT&T Corp enter the local market.
■ China
Anti-gum lotion sought
China is developing a chemical weapon, under a project dubbed the "863 Program" by the Ministry of Science and Technology, for deployment in the war on a scourge that blights its public squares -- chewing gum. Eight research insti-tutions have applied for the 1 million yuan (US$120,000) project to come up with a lotion over the next 18 months that will dissolve discarded chewing gum stuck to the ground, the China Daily reported yesterday. The Chinese chew some 2 billion pieces of gum per year, the paper quoted experts as saying, noting that nearly 600,000 globules of gum were discarded in Tiananmen Square during the seven-day National Day holiday last October.
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