■RUSSIA
Medvedev upbeat on economy
Russia has managed to avert a “dramatic scenario” in the economic crisis, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper published yesterday. “For all the depth and difficulty of the crisis, it is not proceeding according to the most dramatic scenario,” Medvedev said in the interview, published on the day he was due to give a keynote speech to the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum. “The task of the authorities — of the government and of course the president — it to make sure that at the very least this situation is preserved,” he said.
■SOFTWARE
Intel to buy Wind River
Intel said on Thursday that it has agreed to buy software maker Wind River Systems for US$884 million in a bid by the US semiconductor giant to get its chips into more devices. Intel said Wind River’s board of directors had unanimously approved an agreement under which it will acquire all outstanding Wind River common stock for US$11.50 per share. Intel, in a statement, said its takeover of Wind River is part of its strategy to grow beyond its traditional personal computer and server markets and into mobile handheld devices and other systems.
■SOFTWARE
IBM unit files libel suit
The local unit of US computer giant IBM has filed a libel suit against a Philippine government agency after being accused of selling it faulty software, court records showed yesterday. IBM Philippines filed against the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) after an advertising campaign in which it claimed the US giant had sold it faulty software. IBM Philippines said the GSIS ads in local newspapers “were not only false and misleading, but were motivated by ill will and malice.” The computer firm is demanding 205 million pesos (US$4.33 million) in damages and legal expenses.
■CHINA
Beijing eyes IMF bonds
China is “actively” considering buying as much as US$50 billion in IMF bonds, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a faxed statement. “If the terms of the bond issue meet China’s requirements in investing its foreign currency reserves in terms of security and a reasonable return, we are willing to actively consider investing up to US$50 billion,” the agency, which oversees the country’s record US$1.95 trillion foreign-exchange reserves, said. “China has always been committed to supporting the IMF’s fund-raising efforts through market-based channels,” the statement said. The agency issued its statement after the IMF’s first deputy managing director John Lipsky told a conference in Russia that China planned to buy the organization’s bonds.
■RETAIL
MasterCard upbeat
Consumers may be starting to spend enough to stop the backward slide that’s been typical so far this year, a MasterCard Inc executive told analysts Thursday. Chris McWilton, the company’s president of US markets, said data to be released in the next week shows the decline in spending that has hit the retail and credit industries hard may be abating. “It’s not positive yet but certainly the trajectory, the freefall that we saw in January and February of this year has abated,” McWilton said in a conference call with analysts. Also on Thursday, Fitch Ratings analysts reported that the rate of delinquent credit-card payments slowed last month, ending a four-month trend of setting new records.
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
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
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