■ Oil
OPEC prefers lower prices
OPEC would prefer to see the price of its reference crude basket stabilize at between US$35 to US$40 per barrel and will maintain its existing output in the short-term, Iran's oil minister said yesterday. "The most that OPEC is able to do is ruling over the production for the short term. We prefer long-term stable prices, sustainable prices without fluctuation," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters. "We now have high prices in the market, and any decrease in oil production would send the wrong signal to the market," he added. "We are not looking for high prices but the market is not in our hands."
■ Mobile phones
Cellphone TV launched
Nokia Corp yesterday launched a pilot project enabling cellphone users to watch television broadcasts on their handsets in the Helsinki region. In the first venture of its kind in Finland, Nokia is working with the country's largest broadcaster, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE, and leading commercial TV channels and major mobile service providers, including TeliaSonera and Elisa, the world's largest cellphone maker said. Besides Finnish TV programming, 500 test users in the capital region can also watch international television broadcasts, such as BBC World and CNN, and tune into radio programs.
■ Trade
Japan rules against Intel
Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog ruled against US chipmaker Intel Corp on Tuesday, saying it used unfair business practices to sell its microprocessor chips. The Fair Trade Commission's decision follows an investigation into allegations the semiconductor maker broke antitrust laws to urge clients not to use microprocessor chips manufactured by its rivals, like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Such chips are the silicon brain of all computers. Intel has provided marketing money to Japanese PC makers that use Intel chips and brand their products with "Intel Inside" and "Centrino" labels. Centrino is Intel's wireless networking chipset.
■ Airlines
Last year safest on record
Airlines recorded their safest year last year, with 428 people killed out of the 1.8 billion passengers who flew, the International Air Transport Association said on Monday. "2004 was the safest year ever for air transport," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA director-general and CEO. He said the number of accidents rose to 103 from 99 in 2003, while global traffic increased 15 percent. But the number of fatalities has been declining steadily from a peak of 1,418 deaths in 1996, said IATA spokesman Anthony Concil. That number -- compiled only from Western-built aircraft -- was from 1.3 billion passengers flown.
■ Global economy
Europe's bankers optimistic
The president of the European Central Bank said on Monday that top bankers are cautiously optimistic about the global economy. Jean-Claude Trichet said the economy has absorbed the effect of high oil prices more easily than during previous increases, and that prospects are "reasonably steady." Trichet spoke following a meeting with counterparts from the Group of 10 association of top central bankers at the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements. Trichet said. Trichet also said the price of oil could soon drop, as global weather conditions improve.
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