■ Asean
Expanded summit mulled
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is studying the possible expansion of an East Asia summit to include other dialogue partners, its foreign ministers said yesterday. But agreement on how to accept new members into the summit will first have to be reached, the ministers said at they gathered in the central Philippine resort island of Mactan in Cebu for an annual retreat. Malaysia will host the first East Asia Summit in December to include ASEAN and its "Plus Three" partners China, Japan and South Korea. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. However Australia, New Zealand and India have also expressed a desire to join the summit.
■ Internet
`Update' contains virus
Users of Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system may be the target of a scam luring them to a phony security update that installs a virus on personal computers, the San Jose Mercury News reported. An e-mail message claiming to be from Microsoft leads users to a Web site where they are asked to download a security update that actually infects their computer with a virus, the newspaper said, citing anti-virus software maker Sophos Plc. The so-called Trojan horse virus allows hackers to take control of the user's computer. The scam may be timed to take coincide with Microsoft's scheduled update for Windows tomorrow, the newspaper said. Microsoft is aware of the problem and said Windows users should only get security updates from its Web site, www.microsoft.com, the newspaper said, citing a company statement.
■ Telecoms
Verizon to buy MCI stake
Telecom operator Verizon announced on Saturday it had reached an agreement to buy Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's 13.7 percent stake in MCI, as it struggles with rival Qwest Communications to take over MCI. Verizon said it paid some US$1.1 billion for the shares, after Slim pushed Verizon and Qwest Communications to shore up their offers for the company. On Wednesday, MCI had rejected a new US$8.9 billion takeover bid by Qwest in favor of a lower US$7.5 billion offer from Verizon. By Friday, Qwest announced that a majority of MCI shareholders now favored its offer over Verizon's. Earlier this week, Qwest instructed its proxy solicitor, The Altman Group, to canvass MCI shareholders.
■ European Union
Euro adoption unchanged
The reform of the EU's stability and growth pact will not enable the bloc's newest members to adopt the euro currency more quickly, European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Saturday. "I think that the situation has not changed as far as entry of the new [EU] countries" into the euro zone, said Trichet, who was attending an international meeting in Warsaw. The ECB said last month it was "seriously concerned" about modifications to the pact which requires EU countries to keep their budget deficits below 3.0 percent of gross national product. The rules also have been loosened to allow for including certain criteria, such as the cost of pension reforms, in calculating the budget deficit. Some analysts said that would make it easier for the new EU members to bring their state budgets below the limit by 2007.
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