■INTERNET
EU group slams Facebook
Europe slammed as unacceptable the changes by social networking Web site Facebook to its privacy settings that would allow the profiles of its users to be made available to third party Web sites. “It is unacceptable that the company fundamentally changed the default settings on its social-networking platform to the detriment of a user,” the group of European data protections authorities said in a letter on Wednesday. The EU group, known as the Article 29 Working Party, met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels to discuss safer networking principles. It reminded Facebook that user profile information “is limited to self-selected contacts” and any further access “should be an explicit choice of the user.” On April 21, the social networking site rolled out a series of new features, including the ability for partner Web sites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand its presence on the Internet.
■OIL
CIC to invest in Penn West
State-owned China Investment Corp (CIC, 中國投資公司) has agreed to invest C$1.25 billion (US$1.23 billion) in Canadian oil sands giant Penn West. The partnership will allow the Canadian firm to launch “commercial scale development and production” of its vast oil sands resources, said Penn West, which is contributing to the joint venture leases for 237,000 acres (95,910 hectares) of oil sands that are now producing 2,700 barrels of oil per day and are believed to contain “significant bitumen resources.” The leases are valued at approximately C$1.8 billion, the company said. Penn West will retain a 55 percent interest in the partnership. CIC will invest a total of C$817 million to acquire a 45 percent stake in the joint venture.
■FOOD
Chavez expropriates firm
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has decreed the expropriation of a Mexican-owned food company to set up a state agribusiness project, the official gazette announced on Thursday. Mexico’s Gruma group, whose Venezuelan subsidiary Monaca was expropriated, responded in a statement that it had not received prior warning of the move but would cooperate with Venezuelan authorities. The company produces, processes and distributes food such as flour, pasta, rice, oil and oats. Venezuela’s official gazette said its workers could be employed by the cooperative that would take over the company. “It’s our intention to cooperate with the Venezuelan government during negotiations for the acquisition of Monaca,” Gruma said in a statement from its headquarters in Monterrey, Mexico. Basic foods, such as those produced by Monaca, have been under a price control system since 2003 as Venezuela’s leftist government has sought to counter periodic shortages.
■CONSUMER GOODS
Parents sue over diapers
Procter & Gamble Co (P&G) is being sued by parents claiming new Pampers diapers have caused severe rashes and other skin conditions on their children, court documents showed, assertions the company has called “completely false.” The action, filed by the law firm of Keller Rohrback, comes on the heels of parents’ complaints that updated Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers diapers with P&G’s new Dry Max technology appear to have caused rashes and burns on their children. According to documents, the lawsuit wants the court to require P&G to ensure that Pampers will not cause severe rashes, blisters, welts, chemical burns and other skin ailments and to regularly test the product.
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