■Free trade
EU, US unveil joint plan
The EU and the US unveiled a joint plan on Wednesday for tearing down tariff barriers on manufactured imports in an effort to reinvigorate deadlocked global trade talks and heal the transatlantic rift over Iraq. Describing the new round of talks initiated 18 months ago as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity," America's top trade negotiator, Robert Zoellick, said the EU-US plan would eliminate all tariffs on three-quarters of trade in goods between the world's main economies. "We ended the cold war, now it's time to end tariff walls," said Zoellick. After months of setbacks at the WTO's Geneva headquarters and a blistering transatlantic row over Iraq, ministers were determined to use yesterday's meeting of the Paris-based OECD to present a united front.
■ Aviation
Singapore Air gets funds
Singapore Airlines Ltd and the operator of the city state's Changi Airport will receive state assistance to cover third party war risk liability for the next six months, a government statement said. The government's assistance "fills the gap between what commercial insurers are prepared to offer and what airports and airlines had before the worldwide cancellation of such cover in September 2001," the Ministry of Information said. Singapore said the insurance coverage would allow Singapore Airlines and some of its units, as well as the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, which runs Changi Airport, to continue operations because of "inadequate commercial alternatives."
■ Electronics
FTC guns for Rambus
Rambus Inc maneuvered to collect "billions of dollars" in royalties by deceiving competitors into adopting its secretly patented computer chip technology as an industry standard, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claimed. The FTC outlined the evidence it will present as a two-month trial began before an administrative law judge. The agency alleged that Rambus tricked competitors into approving its patented technology as the standard for the memory chip industry, then sued the companies for infringement. Rambus denies any wrongdoing. At stake in the FTC's case is whether the chip designer can continue to collect more than US$100 million in annual royalties on patented features of high-speed chips that power computers.
■ Finance
Venezuelan loans frozen
The US Export-Import Bank has suspended all new credits and loan guarantees for Venezuela, bank spokesman Bo Ollison said Wednesday. "The bank will not be processing any new applications for transactions involving Venezuela," he said. "The reasons for that decision were the detrimental economic conditions that currently exist in Venezuela and the board has determined that a reasonable assurance of repayment, which we have to have in all of our transactions, doesn't currently exist in Venezuela," Ollison said. Transactions that have already been approved will not be affected. The Export-Import Bank is an independent US agency that grants credits or loan guarantees to promote the foreign sale of US services, products and capital goods. Venezuela, which imported more than US$4.4 billion worth of US goods in 2002, had long been one of the bank's 10 top clients.
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