■ ENERGY
LNG producers mull cartel
The world's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting countries gather in Doha today to discuss proposals to form a cartel -- an idea that has consumer nations worried even if it does not appear imminent. The two-day Gas Exporting Countries Forum will be hosted by Qatar, which aspires to eventually become the world's top exporter of LNG. Founded in 2001, the forum is an informal structure grouping 15 countries which together control 72 percent of world reserves and 42 percent of production. The Doha meeting will focus mainly on the possibility of forming a cartel along the lines of the OPEC. The International Energy Agency warned in February that a gas cartel would reduce demand and hurt producers.
■ METALS
Gold expected to rise
Gold will climb to at least US$700 an ounce in the next two months, about 4 percent more than today, Fortis and Virtual Metals Research & Consulting wrote in their monthly metals report. The forecast is up from US$670 predicted last month, Brussels-based Fortis and London-based Virtual Metals said on Thursday in the e-mailed report. Gold has gained since February because the US might begin cutting interest rates in the third quarter, the report said. Lower interest rates may hurt the US dollar and spur investor demand for alternatives such as gold. The one-month forecast for gold was raised to a range of US$680 and US$630, from US$670 and US$600, the report said.
■ TRADE
G4 to meet in New Dehli
India and other key trading powers will meet in New Dehli this week for potentially make-or-break talks to end a deadlock in the Doha Round of global trade negotiations. Officials from the G4 group of influential trading players -- the EU, the US, Brazil and India -- will strive to reach a common position on agriculture, industrial goods and services during the two-day meeting which starts Wednesday. "These talks are timely and important," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in Brussels. "If we fail [at these talks], Doha's prospects for this year will be lost."
■ CAMERAS
Executives oppose merger
Pentax Corp, a Japanese camera maker, said some of its executives opposed a merger agreement with Hoya Corp on Wednesday, two days before Hoya announced it would raise its takeover bid."At a meeting on April 4, some board members proposed that the company terminate the merger plan, and on April 3 there was a motion that the president should resign," Jiro Okamura, a spokesman at Pentax, said yesterday. "Neither proposal was approved." The Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday that Pentax chief executive Fumio Urano intended to resign after six executives proposed to scrap the Dec. 21 merger agreement with Hoya. Hoya announced on Friday it might offer about ¥770 (US$6.49) a share to Pentax shareholders, valuing Pentax at ¥98.5 billion.
■ IPR
Lucky, Flo find more DVDs
Anti-piracy dogs Lucky and Flo have sniffed out 12,000 more counterfeit DVDs in northern Malaysia that led to the arrest of one person, officials and reports said yesterday. The Los Angeles-based Motion Picture Association said that Lucky and Flo sniffed out two locations on Saturday where Malaysian officials found illegal DVDs.
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