■ Foreign Exchanges
Reserves at record high
Japan's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record high of US$852.03 billion at the end of March, the Finance Ministry said yesterday. The increase of US$1.97 billion from the month before came after a state-owned newspaper in China reported that that nation had surpassed Japan in February as the country with the largest foreign currency reserves in the world as its reserves hit US$853.6 billion. As China's reserves keep growing more than US$10 billion each month, it was expected to keep its hold on the number 1 position, Japan's Jiji Press news agency said.
■ Airlines
BAE to sell Airbus stake
BAE Systems PLC confirmed yesterday that it is negotiating with European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co NV about selling BAE's 20 percent stake in Airbus. "We believe that now is the right time for us to divest our Airbus shareholding to allow us to concentrate on our core trans-Atlantic defense and aerospace strategy," BAE Chief Executive Mike Turner said in a statement. EADS, which holds 80 percent of Airbus, recently valued BAE's Airbus stake at euro 3.5 billion (US$4.3 billion). Around 13,000 workers are employed by BAE Systems building wings for the Airbus, mainly at Broughton in north Wales and Bristol, southwest England.
■ Piracy
Vendors slam entrapment
Beijing's famous Silk Street market has accused five global fashion companies of "entrapment" after being ordered to pay compensation for selling fake brand-name goods, state media said on Thursday. During an appeal hearing in Beijing on Thursday, the tourist magnet that trades in clothes, bags and accessories, accused Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci of sending people to the market to buy fake goods, the China Daily said. In December, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ordered the market and the stall owners to pay each of the five companies 20,000 yuan.
■ Media
Spielberg hunts talent
Oscar-winner Steven Spielberg wants to use reality television to help him hunt down new filmmaking talent. The maker of Schindler's List and the Indiana Jones films is teaming up with TV producer Mark Burnett to make the show On the Lot, the entertainment Web site E Online reported on Thursday. According to plans for the show, competitors would be chosen after a search across the US, and each week, the competing teams would make a short film for presentation to a jury. The filmmaker who survives the weekly eliminations would win a production contract with Dreamworks studio.
■ Computers
Dell aims to be greener
Dell Inc plans to triple the amount of electronics it can recycle by 2009, the company said in an annual report outlining its environmental goals and achievements. Dell's updated recycling efforts, highlighted in the Round Rock, Texas-based company's 83-page sustainability report, were issued on Wednesday in Oakland, California, at an environmental business conference. In the fiscal year ending Feb. 3, Dell said it recovered more than 31.5 million kilograms of used computers, monitors and printers. Dell officials said the goal is to recover 275 million pounds by the end of 2009.
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
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
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
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