■ Semiconductors
Intel in talks with India
Intel Corp said it is in talks with the Indian government on setting up a factory in India. Intel is helping the Indian government prepare an overall policy framework for setting up chip plants in the country, Paul Otellini, chief executive officer of Santa Clara, California-based Intel, said in Bangalore. "India today has chip design units and I will argue forever that the design part of our work, the knowledge-intensive activities that we do in Bangalore, for example, are of much more value short term to India than the factory," Otellini said. "Having said that, we continue to be in discussion with the government on assembly-test factories." India will "shortly" unveil a policy promoting semiconductor investment in India, and will consider funding such projects through equity participation, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Feb. 28.
■ Computers
Microsoft unveils FlexGo
Microsoft unveiled a new pay-as-you-go technology on Monday designed to make personal computers more affordable to emerging-market customers. The program, known as FlexGo, is set for trials to begin this week in Brazil, to be followed by tests in India, China, Russia, Slovenia, Vietnam and Mexico, according to Microsoft officials. Eventually, it might even be offered to customers in the US. The scheme allows users to make a down payment on a mid-level PC, then pay for time they use on their computers with pre-paid cards similar to those sold by cell phone companies. Users will also be able to buy time via their local Internet service providers.
■ Computers
Microsoft continuing appeal
Microsoft Corp said yesterday it has no plans to give up a legal challenge in South Korean court, one day after regulators rejected its appeal of an antitrust ruling against the company. The Korea Fair Trade Commission on Monday turned down Microsoft's appeal of the decision, which included a fine of 32.5 billion won (US$34 million). The US software maker has also appealed to the Seoul High Court. In February, the commission issued a final ruling that Microsoft abused its dominant market position in South Korea by tying certain software to its Windows operating system. The preliminary ruling came in December. Under the ruling, Microsoft is required to provide a version of Windows stripped of Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger.
■ Economics
OECD raises growth forecast
Industrialized economies are growing at 3.1 percent this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said yesterday, warning that the US may have to raise interest rates further but that the European Central Bank should wait. But the OECD repeatedly stressed dangers from global imbalances, principally US trade and current deficits, and quoted estimates that for the trade account to balance the US dollar might have to fall by a third to a half. Raising its global growth forecast for the year by 0.2 percentage points from an estimate six months ago, the OECD said that the US, eurozone and Japanese economies might "grow slightly above trend" in the next few months. And it forecast in its annual outlook for the global economy that the 30 OECD countries were set for growth of 2.9 percent next year, the same figure it signaled in November.
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