■ Internet
Yahoo cans Plus service
Yahoo Inc, owner of the most-visited US Web site, will halt a monthly subscription service that provides anti-virus software, expanded e-mail storage, online music and home pages after it failed to gain popularity. Yahoo Plus, which cost from US$3.95 a month, will be discontinued on April 22, said Nicole Leverich, a spokeswoman for the Sunnyvale, California-based company. The Yahoo Plus tools will continue as part of the company's high-speed Internet access service through agreements with companies including AT&T Inc. Stopping the separate subscription service will let Yahoo focus on other products, Leverich said. She said subscribers won't lose any personal information.
■ Internet
Aussies to fry Internet spam
Australian authorities are beefing up the country's fight against spam with a new code of practice for Internet service providers and e-mail companies, officials said yesterday. The code of practice comes on top of an anti-spam law passed in 2004 that mandated fines of up to A$1.1 million (US$780,000) for people sending unsolicited e-mail. The code, drawn up by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, orders ISPs to offer spam filtering options to customers and provide a system for handling complaints. They also will have to impose reasonable limits on the amount of e-mail that subscribers can send.
■ Finance
China tops forex reserve list
China has overtaken Japan as the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves with US$853.7 billion at the end last month, a state-run newspaper reported yesterday. China's reserves rose a sharp US$26.3 billion in January to US$845.2 billion, then added another US$8.5 billion last month, the China Business News said. Japan's reserves at the end last month stood at US$850.06 billion, according to the Japanese finance ministry. The China Business News said the central bank had not yet verified the figures and the official report was expected to be released next month. China's foreign exchange reserves have grown remarkably in recent years -- more than doubling from US$403.3 billion in 2003 -- thanks to strong fund inflows and a burgeoning trade surplus.
■ Internet
Danes sue Chinese eBay
A Danish clothing company has filed a lawsuit in a Shanghai court against eBay's Chinese arm for allegedly allowing counterfeit goods to be sold on its Web site, state press reported yesterday. Aktieselskabet Af 21 November 2001 has demanded eBay Eachnet stop the sales of fake clothing carrying its brands, pay 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) in damages and issue a public apology, the Shanghai Daily reported. The Danish company reportedly bought the rights to Only, Vero Moda and Jack and Jones clothing labels in 2004 and authorized Best Seller Garment in Tianjin city near Beijing to produce and sell clothes with the trademarks in China. But many articles of fake clothing have been sold on eBay Eachnet for about half the retail price in department stores, the company said, according to the Shanghai Daily. "Because it's impossible for us to verify the identity of each online seller, we are arguing that eBay provided the platform for fake trade on purpose," the paper quoted the company's lawyer as saying.
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