■ Stocks
Researcher bullish on US
Stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index may rise above 1,200 as investors remain bullish, though earn-ings growth may decline later this year as companies pay more for raw materials, researcher Ned Davis said in an interview with Barron's. Davis said a recent study by his group indicated that 68 percent of investors are bullish, he told the weekly newspaper. Davis, who runs Ned Davis Research in Venice, Florida, said the economy may slow in the second half, Barron's reported. He also expects the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates before the US presidential election in November, the paper reported. He didn't say by how much. He also told Barron's that he would buy bonds if 10-year notes rise to a yield of 4.75 percent to 5 percent.
■ Security
Identity theft may boom
Wireless computer net-works often lack security measures needed to keep hackers out, which suggests there may be a US boom in identity theft, the Philadel-phia Inquirer reported. Almost 7 million homes will use wireless computer services this year, compared with 4.5 million last year, the newspaper said, attri-buting the estimates to a research firm, the Yankee Group. Using radio-wave technology called "wi-fi," people can connect their computers to other com-puters and the Internet. Many networks don't have programs to protect infor-mation such as passwords and social security numbers moving through the air, the newspaper said. A computer consultant needed only about two minutes to learn the password and user name from the e-mail account of a volunteer using a wireless network at a Borders Group Inc store, the newspaper said.
■ Automotives
Engine venture faces delay
Hyundai Motor Co may delay the start of production at a diesel-engine venture with DaimlerChrylser AG because a truckmaking venture between the two companies may be dropped, Yonhap News said, citing an unidentified official from the South Korean company. The engine plant, which was to make engines for the truckmaking venture, was scheduled to begin produc-tion next month. The truck-making venture, which was scheduled to start produc-tion next year, may be abandoned because Seoul-based Hyundai Motor is concerned DaimlerChrysler may have too much influence, according to a report last week in Germany's WirtschaftWoche magazine. Hyundai risks losing 150 billion won (US$129 million) that it invested in the engine venture if it doesn't go ahead, the Yonhap report said. The engine venture, announced in 2002, was meant to produce 50,000 diesel engines a year.
■ Middle East
Industrial zone possible
Israel and Egypt are close to signing a deal to form a joint industrial zone whose products will be able to enter the US duty-free, Ma'ariv reported without saying where it got the information. The zone will probably be located in an area of high unemployment in Egypt and its products will have to include content that it at least 11.7 percent made in Israel, the paper said. The zone will probably attract food-processing, apparel and furniture makers, it said. Israel operates similar zones with Jordan that require only 8 percent of the final product to be made in Israel, the report said. Negotiations began at the end of last year.
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
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
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
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