■Computer bugs
Dating virus hits Singapore
A computer virus disguising itself as a dating messenger infected more than 800 computers on New Year's Day in Singapore, a scanning company said yesterday. Called Yaha, the e-mail promises to find the user a date, sometimes offering a screensaver featuring sexy celebrities, said Trend Micro. When the infected file is clicked, it disables anti-virus software and firewalls, leaving the system susceptible to further virus attacks and hackers, the firm said. It also sends itself out to everyone in the address book. This kind of virus is called a "blended threat," because it combines the characteristics of several types. Last year two similar bugs, Klez and Bugbear, infected thousands of PCs in Singapore and caused several businesses to shut down their systems for virus cleansing.
■ Oil
OPEC may up production
OPEC may increase oil production by more than 500,000 barrels a day if the strike in Venezuela and the threat of a US attack on Iraq continue pushing up global oil prices, a senior official in the organization said Thursday. The increase could occur in mid-January, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. An agreement among the 11 OPEC member countries would likely be reached by phone, the official said. "We could put 500,000 barrels per day on the market. But that probably won't be enough, so we could do more than that," the official told Dow Jones Newswires. OPEC has a self-imposed price band mechanism that requires the group to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day if the average price of seven selected crude oils stays above US$28 a barrel for more than 20 consecutive trading days. The OPEC basket, as the seven crude oils are known, was US$29.85 Tuesday, OPEC's official news agency, Opecna, said Thursday. It was the 11th day the basket exceeded the price ceiling.
■ Airlines
US Airways gets financing
US Airways Group Inc negotiated US$830 million in financing from General Electric Capital Corp as part of a settlement designed to help the No. 7 US airline emerge from bankruptcy protection. The airline also agreed to issue new shares to resolve claims by GE Capital, which is the carrier's largest creditor. GE Capital is owed more than US$1 billion for everything from plane leases to engine repairs, according to papers filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Virginia. US Airways, with more than US$10 billion of debt, filed for bankruptcy in August as losses widened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. GE Capital is the financing arm of General Electric Co.
■ Preservation
Pandas love new biscuits
A factory in China has started making bamboo-shaped biscuits for malnourished giant pandas and they're being gobbled up, a report said yesterday. The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in southwest China's Sichuan province said the vitamin and fibre-filled bites have been a big success with their 30-odd pandas in captivity. Deputy director Yu Jianqiu said the production line was established on site in a bid to improve the diet of a species on the verge of extinction, the China Daily reported. Pandas number only about 1,000 in the wild with a further 120 or so in zoos and research centers. Their traditional habitats in China have been reduced by 40 percent in the past 20 years, due to logging, road-building and expanding towns.
Agencies
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)