■ Internet
New Bagle bug hits Web
A new variant of the Bagle Internet worm, dubbed Bagle.B, was on Tuesday spreading quickly by e-mail throughout the world, Internet security experts said. "It was initially spread through spamming, which gave it a good start, and now it's picking up speed and spreading quite rapidly," Mikael Albrecht, with the Finnish Security firm F-Secure, said. The worm seemed to have appeared first in Germany, and was on Tuesday afternoon spreading quickly in Italy, Poland and the UK as well, he said. Few details of the new bug were yet available, as it was still being analyzed, but Bagle.B seemed to be installing a so-called backdoor function on infected computers, Albrecht said.
■ Entertainment
Disney to buy the Muppets
The Walt Disney Co said it will buy the "Muppets" characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and others, as well as the "Bear in the Big Blue House," franchise from the Jim Henson Co. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal, which is expected to close in about two months, culminates a decades-long pursuit of the Muppets by Disney, which came close to acquiring the characters in 1990. The deal fell apart shortly after the death of company founder Jim Henson. The company then was bought by German media company EM.TV, which sold it back to the Henson family last year. The deal does not include the Sesame Street characters, such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, who were sold earlier by EM.TV to the Sesame Workshop.
■ Banking
Loose talk hurts Saga Bank
A young woman's e-mails to friends with false information about a regional bank's financial difficulties caused the bank to lose ?50 billion (US$476 million) of its account deposits, Japanese police authorities said yesterday. According to authorities, the Japanese woman in her 20s in southwestern Saga prefecture was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sending the slanderous e-mails to her friends saying that Saga Bank would soon be bankrupt. The woman, whose name was withheld, sent the e-mail to 26 people in December who forwarded it on to others. Due to the false rumor, Saga Bank lost ?50 billion in its account deposits from customers in December, resulting in its total account deposits to fall by 4.2 percent from a year earlier. The woman admitted to the act, but said she did not expect to create such a big commotion.
■ Semiconductors
Wafer sales slow to 5.5%
Global growth in sales of silicon wafers that are used to make semiconductors such as computer chips slowed to 5.5 percent last year, an industry group said. Sales rose to US$5.8 billion last year from US$5.5 billion in 2002, when revenue grew 5.8 percent, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said in a press release. Shipments grew 10 percent to 5.15 billion square inches last year from 4.68 billion in 2002, when shipments rose 19 percent, SEMI said. In the fourth quarter, shipments rose 23 percent from the year-earlier period and 6.5 percent from the previous quarter, it said. Samsung Electronics Co, the world's second-largest semiconductor maker, last month reported that last year's net income fell 15.5 percent to 6 trillion won (US$5.2 billion) after a glut drove down prices of computer memory chips.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source