■UNITED STATES
Google to launch Web store
Google on Wednesday gave software developers an early peek at an online Chrome Web Store it is building as an emporium for games and other applications built for use on the Web. Chrome Web Store is “coming soon” and will be a venue for applications, ratings, reviews and user comments, Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai said at the start of an annual developers conference being hosted by the Internet giant. Developers will be able to sell their creations or offer them for free at the Web Store, which will be accessible from any browser. Chrome Web Store will launch later this year in more than 40 languages and 70 countries, Google said.
■DUBAI
Dubai World in debt deal
Debt-laden group Dubai World said yesterday it had reached an agreement “in principle” with most of its bank lenders to restructure some US$23.5 billion in debt. “Dubai World is pleased to announce that headline economic terms have been agreed in principle with the coordinating committee” representing 60 percent of the group’s bank lenders, it said in a statement. The statement said the company would divide US$14.4 billion of debt into two tranches, maturing in five and eight years respectively, while the government will convert about US$8.9 billion of aid to the company into equity.
■UNITED STATES
Symantec buys VeriSign unit
Computer security giant Symantec said on Wednesday it was buying a unit of VeriSign that secures online transactions for US$1.28 billion. Symantec said it was purchasing VeriSign’s identity and authentication business, which provides certificates and encryption to allow for secure transactions online, in an all-cash transaction. “With the anonymity of the Internet and the evolving threat landscape, people and organizations are struggling to maintain confidence in the security of their interactions, information and identities online,” Symantec president and chief executive Enrique Salem said in a statement.
■UNITED STATES
P&G opens online store
The world’s largest consumer products maker has announced its online shopping store is open for business. Procter & Gamble Co (P&G) said on Wednesday the “eStore” is up and running for the general public after months of testing. The Cincinnati-based maker of household brands, such as Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Olay skin cream, has jumped into online retailing with a site operated by Plano, Texas-based PFSweb. P&G insists the venture’s main goal is to learn more about online shopping, not to compete with stores and online retailers. P&G said it would share the “learning lab” information it gathers and that would help retail partners sell more P&G products.
■FRANCE
Air France-KLM loss widens
Air France-KLM said on Wednesday its net loss widened in the fourth quarter as the global economic crisis hammered freight and passenger traffic, resulting in its biggest loss in more than 15 years. Europe’s largest airline reported a net loss of 691 million euros (US$859 million) for the three months to March 31, compared with a loss of 479 million euros in the same period a year earlier. That took its loss for the year to 1.6 billion euros, even more than its previous record loss of 1.3 billion euros in 1993. The airline blamed a drop of 3.2 percent in passenger traffic and a nearly 14 percent drop in freight traffic.
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