■ Development
China receives forest loans
The World Bank lent as much as US$100 million to support forestry protection and development in China, the Xinhua news agency reported. The loan will be used to develop high-yield timber plantations and introduce superior genetic materials and forest management technologies in China, Xinhua said. China is a forest-poor country, with a per capita forest area of 0.13 hectare compared with the world average of 0.6 hectare, Xinhua said. The increasing gap between timber supply and demand is a "key constraint" in sustainable forestry development in China, it said, citing the World Bank.
■ Internet
Online shrines to be regulated
Japanese are split on whether Shinto shrines should be able to offer virtual visits on Web sites and sell amulets online. Alarmed by the services, the Tokyo-based Association of Shinto Shrines plans to issue regulations next year on shrines' use of the Internet, the Yomiuri Shimbun said in its English edition yesterday. The group supervises around 80,000 shrines across the country. "Shinto gods are enshrined in the place and space of a shrine, and therefore it's fundamental for worshippers to actually visit the shrine," Yoshiya Senoo, chief of the association's research division said.
■ Oil
US regulators watching BP
US regulators have ordered British oil giant BP PLC to submit more details about its plans for replacing corroded pipelines at Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field. The information sought will "determine the need for additional corrective action," regulators said in a Dec. 7 letter to Sandy Stash, vice president for regulatory compliance and ethics for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. Since a major pipeline leak at Prudhoe in March, BP has been under orders from the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to better maintain lines at the field.
■ Telecoms
SK Telecom looks abroad
South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom said yesterday it has forged a strategic alliance with high-tech giant Samsung Electronics to expand their mobile phone business abroad. SK Telecom said it would use 3 million Samsung mobile phones next year for its business at home and abroad, especially in the US and Vietnam. "Through cooperation with Samsung Electronics, we will strengthen our foothold in the Vietnamese market, where demand for new mobile phones is growing," SK Telecom said in a statement. SK Telecom controls more than half of South Korea's wireless market.
■ Labor
Goodyear picket lines spread
Union members battling Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co took their picket lines to about 150 tire retailers in the US and Canada on Saturday, making their case directly to consumers for health care and retirement benefits. In Lincoln, Nebraska, about 50 United Steelworkers members protested at two Goodyear retailers, decrying the company's use of replacement workers during the two-month strike. Goodyear spokesman Ed Markey said the protests do not affect plans to return to the bargaining table, scheduled to resume today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the first time since Nov. 17. About 15,000 workers are on strike at 12 US and four Canadian plants.
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