■ Television
LCD TV sales soaring
Global sales of liquid-crystal displays (LCD) used for televisions will rise more than expected this year because of falling manufacturing costs that are driving down prices and spurring demand, researcher Isuppli Corp said. Global LCD TV shipments will more than double to 9.6 million units this year, a 10th higher than Isuppli's forecast three months ago, the El Segundo, California-based company said. The market will grow to 39.8 million units by 2008, it said. "Massive investments in new production facilities are increasing the availability and driving down the cost of LCD panels and the price of LCD TV sets, thus making them more attractive to consumers," said Sweta Dash, director of LCD research at Isuppli in a press release.
■ Banking
Weill survives ouster bid
Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill easily survived an effort by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to unseat him at the bank's annual meeting on Tuesday. Weill and the other 14 directors on the board were re-elected "by not less than 94 percent of those [votes] cast," according to Michael Helfer, Citi general counsel. CalPERS, the largest US pension fund, withheld its votes for more than half of Citi's directors, including Weill, an action the bank had labeled as "unwarranted."
■ Internet
World Wide Web at risk
Researchers found a serious security flaw that left core Internet technology vulnerable to hackers, prompting a secretive effort by international governments and industry experts in recent weeks to prevent global disruptions of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages. Experts said the flaw, disclosed on Tuesday by the British government, affects the underlying technology for nearly all Internet traffic. Left unaddressed, they said, it could allow hackers to knock computers off line and broadly disrupt vital traffic-directing devices, called routers, that coordinate the flow of data among distant groups of computers. The flaw affecting the Internet's `"transmission control protocol," or TCP, was discovered late last year by a computer researcher in Milwaukee, Paul "Tony" Watson, 36.
■ Banking
Bundesbank gets new chief
The surprise new head of Germany's powerful central bank nominated by the government is a Cologne university professor and expert on monetary policy without any known political leanings. Axel Weber, professor of international economy in Cologne, is also one of the so-called "Five Wise Men," the group of economic advisers to the German government. Weber, 47, is already a member of the Bundesbank's research body.
■ Cars
GM has strong first quarter
General Motors Corp turned in a strong first-quarter performance Tuesday on the back of record earnings at its finance arm and buoyant sales in China, and raised its full-year earnings forecast. The world's No. 1 automaker said net profit surged 24 percent from the same quarter last year, yielding a return of US$2.25 per share, well ahead of the US$1.79 projected by Wall Street analysts. "Overall, we're quite optimistic about this year," GM chief financial officer John Devine said.
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