■ Parasites
Mydoom spreads
The Mydoom Internet worm has infected more than 1 million computers worldwide since it was first detected on Jan. 26, making it the fastest spreading worm attack ever, a Finnish computer firm said Sunday. "We estimate the total number of infected computers to be over 1 million," the anti-virus firm F-Secure said. "Of those, only the computers that have been rebooted [or infected] today are actually attacking. "This is the biggest single Distributed Denial of Service attack ever," the company said in a statement, using the computer term that means users get an error message when calling up a specific Web site. The worm paralyzed the Web site of the American software firm SCO on Sunday.
■ Japan
Man detained for espionage
Prosecutors in Japan detained a Japanese man yesterday in response to an American request that he be handed over to face industrial espionage charges in the US, media reported. Takashi Okamoto, 43, a former researcher at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, was charged in May 2001 with conspiracy, economic espionage and interstate shipment of stolen property related to Alzheimer's disease research. Tokyo prosecutors took Okamoto into custody after receiving an order from Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa to investigate the case, Kyodo News Agency reported. The prosecutors will decide whether to take the matter to the Tokyo High Court, which would rule whether he should be extradited.
■ Semiconductors
Sony to develop new chips
Sony Corp, the world's second-largest consumer-electronics maker, will spend ?120 billion (US$1.1 billion) to make next-generation system large-scale integrated circuits at three plants, as part of its plans to start making "cell" chips sometime in the latter half of 2005. Tokyo-based Sony, and its game and chip unit, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, will spend 31 billion yen on Toshiba Corp.'s existing chip-making plant in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu, southern island of Japan. Total spending by the Sony group on the Toshiba plant will be ?42 billion, Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment said in a statement.
■ Data Protection
New technology launched
Intel Corp, Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics Co and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co will license data-protection technology for cellphones and other mobile devices, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site. The four companies will announce tomorrow they are forming a nonprofit group to license and oversee the use of digital-rights management technology, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans. The technology is supplied by an organization called Open Mobile Alliance, the newspaper said. The companies want to address concerns of providers of digital content such as songs and video, who are reluctant to make their products available for downloading on cellphones because they are worried about unauthorized file sharing, the Journal reported. The initiative to form the group came from Nokia, the largest maker of mobile phones, the newspaper said, citing the unidentified people.
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