■ Software
Search tool upgraded
Catching up with rivals Google Inc and Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Corp yesterday unveiled an improved search service that delivers results tuned to users' location. MSN Local Search delivers both the listings of local sites and a map that includes virtual pushpins indicating each h location. It was expected to be available as a "beta" service starting late yesterday at the site search.msn.com. MSN Local Search gets its online maps from Microsoft's MapPoint Web Service and aerial images from TerraServer-USA, which is one of the world's largest online databases and is operated as a research project by Microsoft. Microsoft also said its local search offering will eventually incorporate a technology called Virtual Earth that will allow results from multiple searches to be layered atop a single map.
■ Aviation
Airbus raises price for A380
The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has raised the catalogue price of its future A380, the world's largest commercial airliner, by US$10 million to an average of US$292 million, a company source said yesterday. The average announced price in Airbus' catalogue from last year was US$282 million, based on a range of US$272 million to US$292 million. The price range this year is US$282-302 million, for an average price of US$292 million, or an increase of about 3.5 percent. It added that the average price for the single-aisle A320, which has been a big success for Airbus, would increase from a range of US$60-64 million to US$62-66 million. The price of an A330-300 will go from US$162-170 million to US$169-189 million. At this year's Paris Air Show, which ended on Sunday, Airbus reported 280 firm and non-binding orders worth US$33.5 billion.
■ Trade
China adds textile quotas
China has announced new limits on its surging textile exports in a bid to ease tensions with the US and Europe over a flood of low-priced Chinese textiles into foreign markets. The rules limiting each Chinese textile producer's sales come after Beijing agreed to cap exports to the EU. Washington earlier imposed its own limits on Chinese textile imports. The new quota system would assign Chinese textile producers a share of the country's exports under a complex formula based on each company's sales before January. The rules were posted on the Ministry of Commerce Web site and dated Sunday. Under an agreement signed this month with the EU, China promised to limit growth in exports to Europe of 10 types of textile goods to between 8 percent and 12.5 percent a year.
■ Economic Outlook
Indicators decline
A closely watched gauge of future business activity fell more than expected last month, indicating slower economic growth may lie ahead later this year, a private research group announced yesterday. The New York-based Conference Board reported that its Composite Index of Leading Indicators fell 0.5 percent last month to 114.1. The decline was more than the 0.2 percent drop that analysts had expected. In a statement, Ken Goldstein, the board's labor economist, said that the indicators suggest "slower growth setting in during the third quarter." But he added that this is "not just a domestic phenomenon." He noted that six of the eight countries for which the Conference Board monitors a leading economic index have either showed declines or slower growth.
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