■ Energy
China to up refining capacity
China plans to increase its refining capacity by about one-third by 2010 as it races to keep up with surging demand for oil and refined products, the government says. Meanwhile, oil producer PetroChina said it is stepping up exploration of both onshore and offshore oil fields and expects "major breakthroughs" in the next few years, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported yesterday. The plan issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, which is in charge of industrial policy, calls for adding at least 82 million tonnes annually of new refining capacity by 2010, up 31.6 percent from the 259 million tonnes of crude oil refined last year. New oil processing centers are to be built in Guangxi Province, in southwestern China, and in Sichuan Province, to the north of Guangxi Province, to handle domestic crude oil output, the commission said.
■ Cosmetics
L'Oreal to buy Body Shop
French cosmetics giant L'Oreal said yesterday that it would buy Body Shop International, renowned for its ethical hair and skin products, for £652 million (US$1.143 billion). L'Oreal will pay £3 a share for Body Shop, which will be maintained as a separate entity and continue to be led by its current management team, the French firm said in a statement. The offer price is 31.5 percent higher than Body Shop's average share price over the six months before Feb. 21, the last day before speculation of a bid emerged, the companies said in a statement.
■ internet
Traders surf Web for iron
Chinese trading companies are surfing a local version of eBay, Alibaba, to scour the world for an increasingly state-controlled resource -- iron ore. Small steel mills, desperate to find iron ore from Brazil, India, Indonesia or New Zealand, can find it on Alibaba, China's top online business-to-business Web site, which is backed by Yahoo Inc. Some of the 237 offers available yesterday included photos of a lump of the ore used to make steel. "We use the Internet as an extension of our services, to let more people know what we have," said Sun Gongmin, who handles Internet marketing for Beijing Hero Trade Co. By contrast, a search for "iron ore" on eBay turned up a variety of postcards of old mines, iron coins and toy trains, but very little that can be measured in tonnes.
■ Electronics
Sharp mulling Poland plant
Japanese electronics giant Sharp is considering opening a new plant in Poland to boost European production of flat-panel television to meet brisk demand, a report said yesterday. Sharp may spend £60 billion (US$51 million) building a assembly plant that can produce 100,000 liquid crystal displays (LCD) TVs every month, the Nihon Keizai business daily said without naming its sources. The group, Japan's leading maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and televisions, is in talks with Polish government officials and others to finalize terms, the report said. "We are considering the expansion of production capacity in North America and Europe to meet growing demand but we have not yet reached a stage to announce the details," a company spokesman said. The new plant in Poland, which would create around 10,000 jobs, would be Sharp's second LCD assembly plant in Europe after one in Spain, the business daily said.
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