■ Tourism
Pushy merchants snared
Bent on pleasing foreign tourists, the mayor of a leading Turkish resort has opened a war on the country's notoriously boisterous shopkeepers, chasing them with cameras and extracting signatures that they will behave themselves. Hasan Sipahioglu, the mayor of the Mediterranean town of Alanya, said Thursday he was asking shopkeepers to sign written pledges not to disturb tourists by shouting and forcing them to shop. "It is so harmful for the tourism sector to drag tourists by their arms and legs and force them into shops," Sipahioglu told Anatolia news agency. He said 750 shopkeepers had already signed the document. The mayor has also armed municipality inspection teams with cameras to watch for those who continue to be a nuisance and film their behavior as evidence. Foreign visitors have long complained of rowdy Turkish shopkeepers, who shout in the streets to attract customers and often drag tourists by force into their shops and restaurants.
■ E-commerce
Pharmacist fined for fraud
In the first case of its kind in New Zealand, a pharmacist and his company were fined yesterday for selling restricted medicines on the Internet without a doctor's prescription. Kerry Donald Bell and his company, I Chemist Ltd, were fined a total of NZ$50,000 (US$28,500) in the Auckland District Court after pleading guilty to nearly 100 charges of breaching the Medicines Act. Ministry of Health spokesman Peter Pratt said the conviction followed a two-year investigation into a multi-million dollar operation, which illegally sold prescription medicines within New Zealand and to overseas buyers. He warned that not only Web sites offering prescription medicines for sale without a doctor's prescription were illegal, but buyers were breaking the law by obtaining such drugs.
■ Media
Papers will not merge
Washington Post Co Chairman Donald Graham told shareholders yesterday that the newspaper and magazine publisher isn't interested in buying Dow Jones & Co, the Washington Post said. "Normally, we don't comment on potential deals, but this is a rumor that's been floating out there," Graham was quoted as saying. "No. Absolutely not." The Washington Post this year began contributing stories to the overseas editions of Dow Jones' Wall Street Journal, prompting financial analysts to question whether the two newspapers might combine, the newspaper said. Dow Jones chief operating officer Richard Zannino last week said that talks between the two newspapers haven't gone beyond the editorial arrangement, according to the Post.
■ Trade
Peace would boost trade
The actual amount of trade between India and Pakistan could triple to at least US$3 billion in two to three years if they can resolve their differences, Secretary-General Amit Mitra of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce said Thursday. Officially, the annual trade between the South Asian nuclear rivals is only about US$200 million. The progress on cross-border trade between the two countries, home to some 1.2 billion people, is deadlocked by their five-decade dispute over the Himalayan region of Jammu-Kashmir, which both nations claim in its entirety. That stalemate could end if the latest peace gestures by leaders on both sides lead to sustained dialogue, business leaders say.
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