■Policy
Indonesia urges reforms
Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno yesterday urged govern-ments at provincial and district level to privatize unprofitable enterprises. "If regional state enterprises continue to incur losses, why should you have them? Their existence should be reviewed: if they are unhealthy, release them to the private sector," Sabarno said, according to the state Antara news agency. The chairman of the Cooperative Body for Regional State Enterprises, Prabowo Sunirman, was quoted as saying about 60 to 70 percent of the 1,600 companies owned by regional govern-ments are unprofitable. Sabarno said only companies which also had a public service mission should be allowed to run at a loss.
■ Publishing
Sales records set by `Potter'
Book retailers Borders Group Inc, Barnes & Noble Inc and Amazon.com Inc all set sales records with the fifth installment in the "Harry Potter" series. Barnes & Noble sold 286,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in an hour, and 896,000 through this afternoon. Amazon.com got orders for more than 1.3 million copies, the company's largest new product release ever. Borders sold about 750,000 copies, its highest first-day sales of any title in the bookseller's history. More than 200 million copies of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books have been sold worldwide since 1997.
■ Protests
Food conference disturbed
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets as agriculture officials from around the world prepared for a meeting where US officials will pitch advances in genetically engineered agriculture. Chanting, banging drums and carrying signs that read "We Don't Want to Eat Their Corporate Creations," protesters Sunday swarmed the streets around the state Capitol and nearby conference center. Demonstrators blocked traffic and overturned a trash bin near a hotel where agriculture ministers were staying, but police had made only eight arrests by late afternoon, authorities said. The reason for the arrests was not immediately clear. Agriculture officials from more than 100 nations are expected to attend the three-day Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology, which started yesterday and is sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture.
■ Trade
Japan's surplus grows
Japan's trade surplus last month grew 12.5 percent from a year earlier as growth in exports outpaced a rise in imports, the Finance Ministry announced yester-day. The merchandise trade surplus -- the measure of all goods exported minus those imported -- grew to Japanese Yen 694.4 billion (US$5.88 billion) last month for an unexpected increase. The second straight month of expansion came as exports rose 3.5 percent for the 14th consecutive month of gains. That outpaced the 2.0 percent increase in imports. While Japan's trade surplus has fluctuated since the start of the year, analysts warn that Japan's economic outlook is clouded by waning external demand. Japan's exports to the US have been steadily declining, while those to Asia, resilient at present, could still be hurt by SARS-related aftereffects, analysts say. Exports to the US fell 4.9 percent last month for the fifth straight month of decline, while Asia-bound exports rose 6.7 percent for the 15th month of gains.
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