■Software
Windows has major flaw
Microsoft Corp, whose software runs more than nine of every 10 personal computers, said a flaw discovered in its Windows XP operating system could let an attacker gain control of a computer. The vulnerability, considered "critical" by Microsoft, could allow intruders to create files, delete data and make other changes to a computer running Windows XP. Microsoft said users can download software from its Web site that will correct the vulnerability. The vulnerability was discovered and reported to Microsoft by Foundstone Research Labs. Microsoft has issued more than 70 security bulletins this year outlining potential problems with its software.
■ Video outlets
Blockbuster cuts forecast
Blockbuster Inc cut its 2002 profit estimate by at least 16 percent, saying competition from discount stores had crimped fourth-quarter sales at the largest movie-rental chain. The stock plunged a record 32 percent. Per-share profit this year will be US$1.03 to US$1.10 on sales of more than US$5.5 billion, Blockbuster said in a statement. Last month, the Dallas-based company predicted that profit before some expenses would rise to US$1.31 a share from US$1.01 last year. Higher sales of movies on digital video discs at rival retailers pinched Blockbuster's rental revenue. The company redesigned its more than 4,400 US stores last month in a bid to win a bigger share of the US$8.4 billion retail market for DVDs, rather than relying on rentals. The overhaul failed to fend off the competition.
■ Food industry
Dole chairman to buy firm
Dole Foods Chairman David H. Murdock has agreed to buy all of the outstanding shares of the giant food company he does not already own, and take it private in a US$2.5 billion deal. Murdock will pay US$33.50 per share for the approximately 76 percent of the company's outstanding common stock, Dole said in a statement released Wednesday. That is US$4 a share more than the price the self-made billionaire offered in September, when he first proposed to take the world's largest producer of fresh foods and produce private. "I believe the company can be better managed as a private company," Murdock told the Ventura County Star in a telephone interview shortly before the deal was announced. "I'm buying it, so I don't think it's a bad deal, but it's not a steal at this price," he added.
■ Economy
Arabs face high joblessness
The economic picture of the Arab world is bleak, with unemployment reaching as high as 20 percent of the combined work force, an Arab League meeting heard Wednesday. "The Arab economic yield does not correspond with the people's needs," the secretary general of the Council of Arab Economic Unity, Ahmed Goweili, told ministers of trade, finance and economy of the 10 league members represented on the council. Goweili said the gross national product of the Arab world stood at US$712 billion last year, a figure that represents only 2 percent of the world gross product. It shows that Arab economies make a very limited contribution to the world economy. "In the year 2001, unemployment sharply increased, especially among young and educated people, to reach 20 percent of the work force," Goweili said.
Agencies
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