■ Semiconductors
Intel cancels processor
Facing strong competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc, chip-maker Intel Corp on Monday modified its plans for upcoming server microprocessors, starting in 2007. Intel said it has canceled a Xeon processor that was scheduled to be released in 2007 and will replace it with another that improves communication with other chips in the system. The new chip, code-named Tigerton, is set to be released in 2007. Intel also announced that it is delaying the high-volume release of an update to its Itanium chip for high-end servers. That chip, code-named Montecito, will be shipped in volume in the middle of next year rather than early next year, Fields said. The Montecito update will be the first Itanium to incorporate two computer engines on a single core. The company said it expects the chip will offer two times the performance of today's Itanium 2 processors.
■ Telecoms
Telstra warns of cuts
The head of Australia's largest telecoms firm yesterday warned revenues were falling and promised a "leaner" company ahead of a strategic review expected to slash thousands of jobs. Telstra Corpchief executive Sol Trujillo said the company's core businesses were struggling to maintain revenue streams amid aggressive competition and ever-changing technology. "As a result of pressure from the last few years, revenues are declining in the core business while costs are increasing," he told Telstra's annual general meeting in Sydney. Trujillo, an American who took the top job at Telstra in July, said he expected to unveil his strategic review next month and employee numbers would be up for consideration. He said the review would concentrate on improving customer service and integrating Telstra's various arms into a cohesive unit. "We are going to change the focus of this business away from [separate] silos into a cohesive and integrated company," he said.
■ Retail
Wal-Mart adds floor space
Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it expects to add more than 5.4 million square meters of gross retail space in an effort to continue growth through the end of the fiscal year. The addition is 8 percent more than the estimated current fiscal year-end square footage. The number of new Wal-Mart Supercenters will rise from 270 to 280. The number of new Wal-Mart stores will increase from 20 to 30. Neighborhood Markets will increase from 15 to 20, and Sam's Clubs from 30 to 40. Domestically the increase goes from 335 to 370 and internationally 220 to 230 with a global total of 555 to 600. About 215 of the new units will include expansions or relocations of existing units.
■ Entertainment
iTunes store for Australia
The long wait by Australian music lovers for a local version of Apple Computer Inc's iTunes online store is over. Apple announced that the Australian iTunes store opened yesterday with albums priced at US$12.75. "The Australian market is a very compelling market for us to come to because music has always done very well in Australia," said Apple's vice president of iTunes, Eddy Cue. Australia is the 21st country to get its own iTunes store. However, some of Australia's biggest artists won't be available to iTunes users because major label Sony BMG has not yet signed up. "Warner, EMI and Universal are in the music store, Sony [BMG] is not," Cue 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
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