■ Oil
Asian prices down US$0.31
Oil retreated further from its US$53 per barrel threshold in Asian trade yesterday, but players in the market remained edgy about tight supplies heading into North America's winter heating season. Output is still badly crippled in the Gulf of Mexico due to hurricane damage, and fears of violence in Nigeria and an oil strike in Norway added to worries that have pushed crude to record levels on the New York and London futures market. Oil for November delivery was trading at US$52.36 in online New York Mercantile Exchange dealings mid-afternoon in Asia yesterday, down US$0.31 from the final price during Thursday's regular session in New York.
■ Retail
Seiyu plans supercenter
Seiyu Ltd, a Japanese retailer 37-percent owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, said it will build a two-level outlet near Tokyo as part of a new focus on supercenters. The outlet, modeled after Wal-Mart stores in the US, will open next year in Hiratsuka, south of Tokyo, the company said. The store would be Seiyu's second supercenter since its first opened in April in Numazu, west of the capital. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, seeks to expand in Japan through Seiyu. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart is helping Seiyu adopt new inventory and data management systems to improve efficiency and to compete against Aeon Co, Ito-Yokado Co and other retailers. Tokyo-based Seiyu will this year open three new general merchandise stores and six supermarkets, spokesman Ryuichi Goto said.
■ Censorship
China to screen games
China plans ratings systems for online games, books and movies to protect children from violence and sexual content, its latest effort to tighten controls on various media, reports said yesterday. The system for censoring online games will be introduced by the end of this month, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Daily said, citing officials attending a conference in Shanghai. Online games will be divided into: games suitable for all; those for junior high school students and older; those for high school students and older; those for 18-year-olds and older; and those for adults, it said. The ratings will be based on various factors such as horror, violence and sexual content. The number of players in China is expected to soar to almost 42 million by 2007. Despite efforts to control content, online games revenues are expected to hit 9.3 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) by 2006, they said.
■ Software
Spyware scheme tackled
The US Federal Trade Commission has filed the first case in the US against software companies accused of infecting computers with intrusive "spyware" and then trying to sell people the solution. The commission accused the companies of infecting computers with unsolicited software, showering computer screens with pop-up ads and then trying to get consumers to pay. It is seeking an injunction to get the companies, owned by the same person, to stop, and to offer restitution to consumers. The FTC requested a temporary restraining order on Thursday from the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire against Seismic Entertainment Productions Inc, Smartbot.Net Inc and Sanford Wallace.
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