■ Trade
Australia wants reforms
Australia lashed out at Japan and the EU yesterday for holding up negotiations on reforming global agricultural trade ahead of a key March 31 deadline. Talks on reforming world agriculture in the WTO had reached a critical stage in the lead-up to establishing reform guidelines by the end of this month, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said. Vaile blamed the 15-nation EU and Japan for the failure of WTO members to agree on draft guidelines for farm trade reform during a five-day negotiating session in Geneva late last month. "The EU and Japan and others continue to oppose the efforts of Australia and the Cairns Group of agricultural producers to bring about genuine reform of agricultural trade," Vaile said. The 18-nation Cairns Group has proposed that farm tariffs in developed countries be cut to a maximum of 25 percent. "However, if protectionist countries get their way we could still see their tariffs on major agricultural commodities remaining at several hundred percent in some cases," Vaile said.
■ Banking
China chooses regulator
China will create a new banking watchdog headed by Liu Mingkang, the Bank of China President who earned plaudits for tackling three corruption probes and selling US$2.6 billion in shares, a central bank official said. The China Banking Regulatory Commission will take over supervision of 110 commercial lenders from the central bank, aiming to reduce 1.68 trillion yuan (US$202 billion) of bad loans at China's four biggest banks at the end of last year. The 56-year-old banker needs to improve management at China's banks to prepare them for public share sales and increased competition from foreign lenders like Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc.
■ Fraud
SK executives charged
Shares of SK Corp, the oil-refining arm of South Korea's third-largest industrial group, fell by the 15 percent daily limit after it restated its 2002 profit and 10 group executives were charged with faking accounts. The 10 include group Chairman Son Kil-seung and Chey Tae Won, head of SK Corp, who is in jail. Trading company SK Global Co said in a statement to the stock exchange prosecutors were correct in saying it had hidden 1.1 trillion won (US$888 million) of bank debt and bloated profit last year by 1.6 trillion won.
■ Agriculture
Milking robot developed
The farmer may stay in bed. His dairymen may go to town. A robot inspired by a vacuum cleaner and fitted with a discerning eye for a bursting teat may be about to take over the milking. Like an elephant's trunk, the IceRobotics "mimetics actuator" will be waiting in the parlour for any Friesian or Guernsey in a mood to be milked. When Buttercup and Daisy decide that they are feeling a little full, they will step into a stall equipped with the latest in vision software. A "thinking camera" will locate the first teat and using that as a guide, start looking for the other three. Gentle pressure will start the milk flowing from the udder, and at the same time soothe the nurturing beast with supplies of food. The design, dreamed up by Bruce Davies, of Heriot-Watt University, while studying for his PhD, earned a ?98,000 grant yesterday from Nesta, the national endowment for science, technology and the arts.
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