■ CONSUMER GOODS
Target to miss target
Target Corp said its sales this month were coming in at the low end of the range it had expected earlier this month. It was one more sign of weakness at the second-largest US discount retailer. Target said earlier this month that same-store sales for this month would range between a decline of 1 percent and a gain of 1 percent. On Monday, Target said its results would be at the low end of that range. It said the prediction was based on actual sales at Target stores for the first two weeks of this month and its prediction for the remaining two weeks.
■ TRANSPORT
Riyadh mulls railway line
Saudi Arabia has invited Russia state-run railroad monopoly for talks on building a railway line in the Middle Eastern country, the Russian company said on Monday. The Saudi Finance Ministry sent a letter inviting OAO Russian Railways to open talks on a contract to build the 520km railway from Az Zabirah, in the north, to Riyadh's international airport, the Russian company said in a statement. The contract would be worth about US$800 million and would include construction of bridges, camel crossings and other infrastructure to support the railway, the statement said.
■ OIL
PDVSAraises investments
State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA will spend US$15.6 billion on oil-related investments this year, a 56 percent increase over last year, the country's oil minister said on Monday. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the higher investment is aimed at helping PDVSA meet its goal of increasing crude output to 5.8 million barrels a day by 2012. The government says output is currently more than 3 million barrels a day, though independent analysts estimate the true figure is considerably less. Apart from oil-related investment, PDVSA also has budgeted US$1.2 billion for social programs, Ramirez said.
■ TELECOMS
No phone before bedtime
Chatting on a mobile phone before bedtime makes for more restless nights, a Swedish researcher who headed up a study on the subject said on Monday. "If you feel you have trouble sleeping, you should think about not talking on a mobile phone right before you go to bed," said Bengt Arnetz, a professor of social medicine and stress research at Uppsala University, north of Stockholm. Arnetz said he and a team of researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in Michigan had found that mobile phone radiation appeared to cause insomnia, headaches and concentration difficulties.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Disney phone unveiled
Disney unveiled its first mobile phones in Japan yesterday, saying the US entertainment giant is "extremely confident" in success here after learning lessons from its flop in the US market. Walt Disney Japan, the local unit of Walt Disney Co, said it would begin a new mobile telephone service, named "Disney Mobile," on March 1 together with Softbank Corp in line with their initial announcement in November. Disney Mobile will first offer three types of mobiles made by Japan's Sharp, whose outer package is covered with silhouette patterns of Mickey Mouse. They also feature a special online bottom that will allow subscribers to jump to Disney Web sites.
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