■ Technology
Microsoft, Japan cooperate
US computer software giant Microsoft said yesterday that it would enhance joint research with Japanese universities, launching a new institute in Tokyo directed by a robotics expert. The US company will set up the Microsoft Institute for Japanese Academic Research Collaboration to promote projects with Japanese researchers. Initial projects will be in graphics, user interfaces and language processing between humans and machines. The director of the institute is Katsushi Ikeuchi, a leading robotics researcher and professor at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the elite University of Tokyo. Ikeuchi said the research would be initially aimed at developing "servicing robots, which are considered indispensable technology in Japan's graying society."
■ Retail
Wal-Mart heir dies in crash
John Walton, 58, a son of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc founder, Sam Walton, died on Monday in a plane crash near Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming. Walton was the only person aboard an ultralight aircraft when it crashed around 1:20pm. The circumstances of the crash were not known. In March, Forbes magazine ranked Walton as the world's 11th-richest person, with a net worth of US$18.2 billion. He had been a Wal-Mart board member since 1992. He was married and had one son.
■ Microchips
AMD files suit against Intel
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) said yesterday that it has filed an antitrust suit alleging that Intel Corp has an unlawful monopoly in the x86 microprocessor market. AMD said it filed the suit in the US District Court in Delaware. AMD said Intel has coerced customers from dealing with AMD. AMD said it identified 38 companies that have been victims of coercion by Intel. It said the companies include large-scale computer makers, small system builders, wholesale distributors and retailers. "Everywhere in the world, customers deserve freedom of choice and the benefits of innovation -- and these are being stolen away in the microprocessor market," Hector Ruiz, AMD chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.
■ Internet
China passes 100m users
China's population of Internet users has surpassed 100 million, the government said yesterday. China already has the world's second-largest population of people online after the US, which has 135 million. China's communist government promotes Internet use for education and business but also tries to block its public from seeing material deemed pornographic or subversive.
■ Rice
Production to hit new high
World rice paddy production this year is estimated to surpass 621 million tonnes, setting a record high, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted yesterday. Expansion is concentrated in Asia, especially in China, which is expected to boost its paddy production by 6 million tonnes this year, while large increases are also expected from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, according to the FAO's latest report. Contractions in this year's paddy crop are expected in Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and especially Australia, where a 36 percent shortfall is anticipated due to drought. Thailand will maintain its position as the world's largest rice exporter.
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
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
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