■ Computers
Buyback seen likely at HP
Hewlett-Packard Co's US$6.5 million in cash may soon be used to buy back shares or increase its dividend regardless of the company being on watch for possible downgrade by credit-rating agencies, Barron's said, citing unidentified analysts. While Hewlett-Packard's chief financial officer Robert Wayman would like to the company removed from "negative watch" lists, the company may not wait for an upgrade. "We will soon address the [cash] question regardless of the credit agencies," he told Barron's. He declined to comment on a buyback or dividend increase to the weekly newspaper. Analysts consi-der a buyback more likely than a dividend increase because Hewlett-Packard already offers a dividend of US$0.32 a shares annually, for a yield of 1.4 percent, and is one of the few technology com-panies to do so, Barron's said. The company's net cash position is equal to about US$2 a share, the paper said.
■ Pharmaceuticals
US accused of protectionism
US President George W. Bush's administration is requiring further tests on foreign-made generic drugs before they can be used in the government's US$15 billion program to fight AIDS worldwide, the Washington Post said. The drugs have been approved by the World Health Organization and other international health groups, the paper said. Until the new evaluations are done, the US will use brand-name drugs only, the Post said. Critics accused the admin-istration of trying to protect the US pharmaceutical industry and undermine competition from generic drugs made overseas, the Post said. The administra-tion's AIDS program seeks to put 2 million patients in 14 African and Caribbean countries on drug therapies in the next five years.
■ Computers
Dell on track to meet goals
Dell Inc, the world's largest personal-computer maker, is ahead of its goal to make US$60 billion in sales for the year ended Jan. 31, 2005, chief executive Michael Dell said. "Our business is growing faster than we anticipated," Dell told the Channel Nine's Business Sunday program in Austra-lia. "When we laid out that plan to grow to $60 billion it was quite an audacious goal and to be running a little ahead of that, we feel very good about that," he said. The company, which earned US$41.4 billion in the past fiscal year, had previously said it may reach US$60 billion in sales for this fiscal year. Dell said business had been helped by a move toward sales of servers, which run networks and Web sites, using Linux and Windows operating systems rather than those that use Unix operating systems.
■ China
Venezuela sells fuel data
Venezuela has sold China the technology to process heavy crude into boiler fuel, the state-run news agency said. Under the deal signed by Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA and Chinese Orifuels Sinoven, Venezuela will provide China with the technology needed to make the boiler fuel Orimulsion, Venpres said. PDVSA officials said Venezuela will export heavy crude to China to be pro-cessed there. Venezuela -- produces 500,000 barrels of heavy crude and Orimul-sion a day. However, PDVSA announced last year that it will no longer develop Ori-1 projects. Exports of Orimulsion to Canada and Italy were canceled last year, but exports to China continue.
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