■ Telecoms
EU warns on market rules
The EU head office said on Wednesday it has charged nine European countries for failing to open up telecoms markets to competition. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Poland received a first-round warning for not sending EU regulators their reviews of the market. The EU says this analysis is crucial to make sure the market is open to competition and regulations are able to cope with change. Governments have two months to respond. EU Information Society Commissioner Vivane Reding said EU rules had to be enforced to liberalize telecoms and create economic growth and jobs. The European Commission warned Cyprus and Slovenia for not guaranteeing the independence of the national regulator. It also told Estonia it wasn't sticking closely to EU legal rules. Malta received a second-round warning for not obeying an EU order to allow customers keep their phone number when they change operators.
■ Trade
Korean exchanges hit high
Trade volume between the divided Koreas is expected to reach a record US$1 billion this year, a South Korean official said yesterday. In the January-September period, trade between North and South Korea totaled US$789 million, up 60.1 percent from the same period last year, Vice Minister Rhee Bong-jo of the Unification Ministry said. That's already better than the current all-time high for annual trade of US$724 million set in 2003. The traded goods include clothing and agricultural and fisheries products. It also includes South Korean aid to North Korea such as rice and fertilizer. "If the current trend continues the figure will top US$1 billion this year for the first time in history," Rhee told reporters, without elaborating on reasons for the increase.
■ Aeronautics
A380 to fly to Singapore
The world's largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, will touch down at Singapore's Changi Airport next month on its maiden test flight out of Europe, a newspaper reported yesterday. Singapore has been picked as the first of three stops, which also include Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, sources told the Straits Times. Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be the first carrier to put the massive double-decker plane into operation. SIA has ordered 10 aircraft, with an option for another 15. The first few are due to arrive in November next year, eight months behind schedule, and will initially be put into service from London to Sydney. While the plane can carry up to 555 passengers, SIA will configure its A380s with 480 seats.
■ Piracy
BitTorrent user charged
A Hong Kong computer user is being prosecuted for piracy in what is believed to be the world's first case of its kind involving BitTorrent software, a news report said yesterday. Chan Nai-ming, 38, allegedly used the popular file-sharing technology to distribute three copyrighted films without the owners' licences, according to the South China Morning Post. Unemployed Chan allegedly used BitTorrent to upload Miss Congeniality, Daredevil and Red Planet onto the Internet but has pleaded not guilty to piracy. In the opening day of his trial, expected to last three days, Chan claimed on Wednesday he had been pressured into signing statements by customs officers who raided his house.
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