■ Internet
Yahoo to offer online music
Internet giant Yahoo announced plans on Tuesday for a new online music subscription service as well as an online music store allowing consumers to pay for individual song downloads. The test or beta version of Yahoo Music Unlimited was set to debut yesterday, for users in the US, the group said in a statement. The service will be priced below those of many rivals at an introductory rate of US$4.99 per month for an annual subscription, or US$6.99 on a monthly basis.
■ Digital cameras
Olympus to cut staff
Japanese camera maker Olympus Corp said yesterday it will lay off 4,000 workers globally by the end of September, mainly in China, due to worsening of its digital camera business. Olympus will also close down two domestic digital camera parts plants, president Tsuyoshi Kikkawa said during the company's press conference to disclose earnings results for fiscal 2004, which ended on March 31. Through the job cuts and plant closures, Olympus aims to save about ?13 billion (US$123.8 million) in costs per year, the president said.
■ Banking
NAB to reduce work force
More than one in 10 National Australia Bank (NAB) jobs will be lost in a global cost-cutting binge on operations in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Japan, as well as at home in Australia. The pruning comes despite Australia's biggest bank posting a 17 percent increase in net profit to A$2.5 billion (US$1.9 billion) for the first half. The job losses will be phased in over two years, as NAB closes operations around the world.
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