■Taxes
Internet VAT enforced
A new law forcing non-EU firms to collect value-added tax (VAT) on goods sold over the Internet to customers in the 15-nation bloc came into force on Tuesday, officials said. The law has sparked complaints from some companies outside the EU, although those inside the bloc which have been charging VAT up to now have complained that competitors abroad had an advantage. European Commission officials said the change was likely to affect US Internet firms such as service provider AOL and online auctioneer e-Bay. One official said rival firms such as service provider Freeserve had complained that they were suffering because US firms were not obliged to collect VAT.
■ Biotechnology
UN approves standards
The UN's food standards body approved guidelines Tuesday for assessing the safety of food derived from biotechnology, including the use of product tracing as a tool of risk management, an official said. The UN Codex Alimentarius Commission is currently meeting in Rome -- a session that comes at a delicate time when the US and the EU are bickering over genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The three documents approved Tuesday deal with standards for risk assessment of biotech food and with methods to raise public awareness over the issue, said Jorgen Schlundt, the director of the food safety department at the UN World Health Organization. The Codex is a joint commission of the health agency and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
■ Trade
US expands duty-free list
The US on Tuesday expanded the range of products that more than 140 developing countries can import duty-free, said the Office of the US Trade Representative. US President George W. Bush signed a proclamation that renews Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits for imports worth about US$900 million, including for some requested by Argentina, the Philippines and Turkey, it said. It granted US$96 million worth of additional GSP benefits to Argentina, US$30 million worth to the Philippines and US$130 million worth to Turkey. Bush also redesig-nated products or provided waivers on certain goods from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Morocco, Thailand an Uruguay, said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. Last year, imports worth US$17.5 billion entered the US duty-free under the GSP program.
■ Airlines
Numbers are picking up
Passenger numbers in the Asia-Pacific region are picking up faster than expected on airlines clobbered by the SARS outbreak, flagging global economy and the war in Iraq, a grouping of carriers reported yesterday. The Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, representing 17 carriers including Singapore Airlines, said travel bookings have improved and more people are flying. Flights in the region plunged 44.8 percent in April and by 50 percent in May. A key to recovery is the World Health Organization's lifting of travel advisories for more destinations in Asia. Cathay Pacific said recently it would restore 170 weekly flights this month and resume a full schedule by the end of September. Japan Airlines has also said it will restore normal services on some routes to China and other regional destinations. Sin is restoring eight weekly flights to Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan, Madrid and Auckland.
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