Business

Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as Australia's new Prime Minister with an agenda of action on climate change and the repeal of unpopular industrial laws. The new Labor government has signed ratification document to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and also plans to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq by the middle of 2008. The agreement, which will come into force in 90 days, means Australia's greenhouse gas emissions should not be higher than 8 percent above 1990 levels. Environmental groups believe the Australian economy could easily manag

2007 Informonth (IT Month), the annual exhibition for IT & 3C industries every winter in Taiwan, started in Taipei on December 1st and will run until December 9th in the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC). Government officials, such as President of the Republic of China Shui-bian Chen, Premier of the Republic of China Chun-hsiung Chang, Commissioner of Council for Cultural Affairs Chin-chu Weng, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Ruey-long Chen, Minister of Education Cheng-sheng Du, and Minister of Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission Fu-mei Ch

On Tuesday, Google announced a new strategic initiative aimed at producing electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal power that is cheaper than electricity produced from coal. Google plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in 2008, and to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to bring energy projects to market. The new initiative is dubbed "RE<C", for "Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal." It will "focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enha

Before the Legislative Elections and Presidential Election in Taiwan, conflicts between the Pan-Green and Pan-Blue Coalitions were more and more intensive. Some politicians participated in the trade fair at the Taipei World Trade Center earlier, and Annette Lu, vice-president of the Republic of China, and Chen Shui-bian, president of the Republic of China, were never booed by some citizens because of the hot topic of commodities prices. This time, the Taipei City Government has battled to the Executive Yuan with some opinion on the "Gate of Gre

After brokering a deal between record companies, film corporations, internet firms and itself, the French government has unveiled a new anti-piracy body formed to counter what President Nicolas Sarkozy has described as the growing use of the internet as a "lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total impunity". Internet service providers will be forced to monitor the activities of their clients, and will restrict access for users known to be partaking in file sharing of selected media. In some cas

On Thursday, Colombia ended Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, efforts in negotiating hostage releases with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Álvaro Uribe, the President of Colombia, said that Chávez broke a November 10 agreement not to speak directly to Colombian military commanders. FARC, reportedly, hold hundreds of hostages in the jungles of Colombia. Their aim in the mediation was to trade some 50 hostages for 500 of their own, held in prisons of Colombia. FARC is offering high-profile hostages such as former Senator Ín

Wales held Germany to a goalless draw in their final match of UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying at the Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt am Main. Despite starting strongly, Wales had few chances on goal with Carl Fletcher sending a shot wide of the post. The best opportunities for Germany came when Tim Borowski's attempt hit the post after fourteen minutes and Mario Gomez's header went just wide. However Wales' defence held and the match remained goalless. The result of this match had no effect on qualification, as the fates of both teams had been sealed

As "Brand International Promotion Association" and "Taiwan Excellent Manufacturers' Association" merged to "Taiwan Excellent Brand Association" (TEBA), "2007 Taiwan Brands' Trend Forum", with the slogan of "Winning Global Economic with Taiwan Brands", held yesterday and invited professionals from governmental, financial, and IT industries to share experiences on marketing MIT (Made in Taiwan) brands and encourage MIT brands market to the world by innovations. Newly-elected Chairman of TEBA Andy Tzu-jen Hsieh remarked in the opening: "A product

Drag—dressing in the clothing atypical of your born gender—in recent years has found mainstream success. Films such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar have prominently featured drag performers. But they have all focused on men in drag as women. Murray Hill is a comedian, emcee and performer. He is also a drag king. Called "The Hardest Working Middle-aged Man in Show Business", The New York Times christened him "the current reigning patriarch of the

Following the launch of the Doritos Coolpedia website on September 28, and voting on October 14, this website has now become a complex portal with textures, pictures, and multimedia after adding video candidate function. As Coolpedia originally followed Wikipedia's example of Internet-relay contribution, Wikinews Reporter Rico Shen interviewed Claire Lin (Assistant Media Manager of Marketing Department, Pepsico Foods Taiwan) about the origins and objectives of Coolpedia. Interview Brock: With witnessing the rise of Coolpedia, I wonder to know

Proton, a car company in Malaysia has announced that it plans to begin building a car specifically for Muslims. They will work with other car makers in Iran and Turkey to build an "Islamic" car, which would the first car of its kind and will be unlike any other car on the world's market. "What they (Iran) want to do is to call that an Islamic car. We will identify a car that we can develop and produce it in Malaysia, Iran or Turkey. For Proton, we are more than happy because we have products that we can share," said Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mo

The 28th Taipei Audio Video Fair (TAVF), organized by the Taipei Electrical Commercial Association (TECA), featured not only some innovative domestic market exhibition ideas, but also offered a pavilion entitled the "Global Audio and Video History Corridor", to showcase the audio and video industry's world-wide history. Wikinews reporter Rico Shen attended the fair, which, this year, highlighted TECA's 60th anniversary. At the Taipei Grand Hotel (Yuanshan Hall), some participants (exhibitors) rented soundproof guest rooms, which offered the be