■ Computers
Apple adds mouse buttons
Just weeks after announcing a switch to Intel-based chips, Apple Computer Inc on Tuesday unveiled another change that brings it closer to the mainstream -- a new computer mouse with four programmable buttons and a scroll ball. The introduction of the US$49 device came after decades in which Apple insisted that a single button mouse was adequate for managing computer tasks. The new Mighty Mouse doesn't actually feature separate buttons. Instead it has two touch sensors near the front that can be used like a two-button mouse, or as a single-button for Apple traditionalists. Pushing down the scroll ball can also act as a button while squeezing the mouse from both sides also can launch applications or bring up menus.
■ Piracy
Web rebels test `darknet'
Internet rebels on Tuesday began preliminary testing of a new weapon that threatens to scuttle efforts to stop illicit online music swapping. Internet privacy activists at Freenet Project posted word on their Web site that they were looking for kindred technology renegades to test a refined version "darknet" software designed to keep file swappers anonymous. The new software is being heralded as "scalable," which means it would enable large numbers of computer users to freely share files online without revealing their identities, said Doug Tygar, a computer professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "Even if this version of Freenet doesn't meet its goals, I can assure you they will continue to refine their software. It is just a matter of time before anonymous file sharing networks become available," Tygar said.
■ Oil industry
Indonesia asks for loan
Indonesia's cash-strapped government has asked China to provide a loan of up to US$1.5 billion to fund oil imports by state-owned oil firm Pertamina, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said yesterday. Indonesia submitted the request during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state visit to China last week as a means of supporting the rupiah, Bakrie told reporters. Pertamina is responsible for all of Indonesia's oil imports. Although Indonesia is the sole Southeast Asian member of OPEC, falling investment in oil exploration and extraction in the country has reduced output in recent years and made the country a net oil importer.
■ Fraud
Bank settles Enron claim
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to pay US$2.4 billion to settle investors' claims that it helped hide losses at the fallen energy trader Enron Corp through a massive accounting fraud. The settlement announced on Tuesday with the Toronto-based bank -- Canada's fifth-largest financial institution and the operator of the securities firm CIBC World Markets -- was the biggest individual payout so far in the long-running debacle. Combined with similar agreements with Citigroup Inc, JP Morgan Chase & Co and others, the settlements have now reached more than US$7 billion, said lawyers for the investors who lost tens of billions in Enron's 2001 collapse. Some 50,000 Enron stock and bond holders led by the University of California's board of regents filed claims as part of the lawsuit. Investors claim a number of global banks and brokerages helped Enron continue to operate and raise money even as the company was imploding.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2