■ ALCOHOL
China takes wine seriously
Wine tasting has become an official profession in China to help meet surging demand in the increasingly prosperous country, state media reported yesterday. Wine tasting is one of 10 new jobs, ranging from color design consultant to nuts chef, added to the list of officially recognized occupations, the Xinhua news agency said. Being on the list drawn up by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security means official help in standardizing the training market, the agency said. More than 80 percent of the country's 15,600 wine companies have complained of a shortage of tasters.
■ FINANCE
IMF alternative launches
Seven presidents were to meet late yesterday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to launch the Bank of the South, intended as an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank. The foundation principles of the Bank of the South -- an initiative of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- were agreed on early last month in Brazil by the finance ministers of the countries involved. The Bank of the South is set to have its headquarters in Venezuela, with further offices in Argentina and Bolivia. It is scheduled to be operational early next year, with an estimated initial capital of US$7 billion.
■ GEMSTONES
Diamond attracts major bid
A 6.5-carat blue diamond went for US$3.56 million, more than three times its estimated value, at auction in France on Saturday, the auction house said in a statement. An international company specialized in buying precious stones placed the winning bid by telephone, according to the Guizzetti-Collet auction house. The "blue intense homogeneous" diamond with "extraordinary" coloration, came from a ring "bought in 1962 by the owners of a champagne house on the occasion of promoting a special vintage," the auction house said.
■ OIL
Exporters may see shortage
Some of the leading oil-exporting countries may start importing oil 10 years from now in order to satisfy the needs of their own booming economies, The New York Times reported on its Web site late on Saturday. Citing experts and industry projection, the newspaper said this change of roles had occurred in Indonesia, while Mexico could start importing oil within five years. According to the paper, these two countries could be followed by Iran. "It is a very serious threat that a lot of major exporters that we count on today for international oil supply are no longer going to be net exporters any more in five to 10 years," the report quotes Amy Myers Jaffe, an oil analyst at Rice University, as saying.
■ STOCK EXCHANGES
Bursa considering tie-up
Bursa Malaysia Bhd said it is in negotiations with overseas stock exchanges on potential tie-ups, declining to confirm a newspaper report that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange may buy a stake in the firm. "We have always been exploring potential collaborations," said Karina Bahrin, a spokeswoman for Bursa. The Star newspaper reported on Saturday that Chicago Mercantile may buy a 10 percent stake in Bursa, Malaysia's stock exchange operator. Shares of stock exchanges have benefited as some fund managers predict Asia will soon outpace the rest of the world economically.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
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