■ WTO
Afghanistan, Iraq talks start
The 148 member states of the WTO yesterday agreed to membership negotiations with Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq, which has had observer status in the organization since February, delivered a membership application on Sept. 30. Negotiations for WTO entry usually last several years. Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed al-Jibouri said Monday in Geneva that his country wanted to assist economic reforms with the candidacy and adjust to international trade regula-tions. Afghanistan has had WTO observer status since April last year. Several countries, including some in the EU, have criticized the refusal of the US to consider membership negotiations for Iran, whose application was brought before the WTO by Egypt in 2001.
■ Electronics
Sony, Samsung to share
Sony and Samsung announced a licensing agreement yesterday to share several patents, but they won't include key technologies such as Sony's PlayStation architecture and Samsung's home networking. The Japanese electronic and entertainment giant Sony Corp. and the South Korean electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co will share a wide range of patents, including digital technol-ogies to speed up research and product development, a joint statement said. However, patented designs and services that give each brand name distinctive features were excluded, it said. Besides PlayStation -- Sony's core technology that drives its hit video game console -- and Samsung's home networking technologies, the deal excludes TFT liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, displays.
■ China's Economy
Foreign investment rises
China attracted US$57.6 billion in foreign investment in the first 11 months of this year, an increase of 22.1 percent year-on-year, official data showed yesterday. Contracted foreign investment, a measure of future business, rose 34.4 percent to US$135 billion dollars compared with the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. In the first 10 months of this year, China drew US$53.8 billion dollars in foreign direct investment, up 23.5 percent, from a year earlier. The ministry did not publish data for last month alone, but based on previously released figures, actual foreign direct investment rose 5.6 percent year-on-year to US$3.8 billion last month.
■ Wine
S African wine tainted
Thousands of bottles of award-winning South African wine sold and consumed in the UK in the course of last year were deliberately adulterated with an illegal flavoring additive, an investigation has revealed. South Africa's second biggest wine producer, KWV, announced last week that two of its seven-strong winemaking team had added harmless but banned flavorings to three of their wines. The two men admitted responsibility after declining to take a lie-detector test. Ian Nieuwoudt and Gideon Theron have now been dismissed and face possible criminal charges. One of the two affected brands is sold in the UK for about ?5.49 (US$10.55). KWV's British importer, said on Monday that none of the contaminated wine had reached the UK. The firm is about to destroy more than 60,000 liters of 2004 vintage Laborie Sauvignon Blanc and Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, worth about 1 million rand (US$175,000).
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
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