■ Internet
SCO shuts down Web site
The SCO Group software company shut down its Web site Monday in response to a denial-of-service attack engineered by the prevalent MyDoom virus. Microsoft is to be the next target of the virus, which infected hundreds of thousands of computers last week and programmed them to flood the SCO Group and Microsoft starting on Sunday and yesterday, respectively. The Utah-based SCO Group is thought to have been targeted because of its intention to sue users of the open-source operating system Linux for copyright violations. The company said the hostage code replicates part of the Unix operating system, which it owns. Microsoft is thought to be at less risk because its sites are considered among the most secure on the Internet.
■ Macroeconomics
World economies may grow
The US and global economies this year may grow the most in two decades, as profits and productivity improve, the Conference Board said. The US economy may expand 5.9 percent this year, while Europe's and Japan's each may grow about 3 percent, according to the Conference Board, a New York-based research group. The global economy may grow 5 percent, while most other regions expand at "6 percent or better," the group said. "The US economy and world economies continue in the virtuous phase of a strong economic cycle in which accelerating growth generates productivity and profits, and rising employment creates a new phase of income-driven consumer spending," Gail Fosler, the Conference Board's chief economist, said in a statement.
■ Computers
Sony to play games in China
Sony Corp plans to enter China's online gaming market through a partnership with an unidentified Internet company, the China Daily reported, citing Cindy Armstrong, vice president for international business development at Sony Online Entertainment. The Sony unit, which operates the two most popular online games in the US, will finish negotiations with the Internet company within three weeks to offer its PlanetSide shooting game, the newspaper quoted Armstrong as saying. Sony is also trying to find partners for EverQuest II, the sequel to its online role-playing game EverQuest, the report said. Sony may license the game or form a venture, Armstrong told the newspaper. Sony's France-based partner UbiSoft began to operate EverQuest in China last year, the report said.
■ Electronics
Pioneer to buy NEC unit
Pioneer Corp will buy NEC Corp's plasma display panel (PDP) operations, the two Japanese electronics companies said yesterday. The demand for PDPs is surging amid the growing popularity of flat-screen TVs. But intensifying competition from Asian rivals has been spurring a realignment among Japanese makers, including NEC and Pioneer. Pricing and other details will be announced later, both sides said in a statement. Pioneer said it expects to hold a leading 22 percent share of the global PDP market in the next fiscal year as a result of the deal. Under the agreement, Pioneer will acquire all shares in NEC Plasma Display Corp, an NEC subsidiary, and all intellectual property rights NEC holds related to PDPs. NEC said it hopes to focus on its core businesses of network solutions and semiconductors.
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