■ TradeGuatemalan officials to visit
A Guatemalan government delegation left for Taipei on Friday to begin negotiations on a possible free trade agreement with Taiwan, officials said. The mission is headed by Sonia Lainfiesta, foreign trade representative at the Guatemalan Economy Ministry. The first round of talks was set for Tuesday through March 5. Deputy Guatemalan Economy Minister Enrique Lacs said the meeting will establish a framework for future negotiations. Lacs has said the talks -- to be held in Taiwan, Guatemala and the US -- were not expected to last more than six months. Last year, according to Central Bank figures, Guatemala imported more than US$125 million worth of products from Taiwan, mostly manufactured goods, while Guatemala's exports to Taiwan were worth US$10 million.
■ Technology
Musical toothbrush launched
A musical toothbrush intended to keep kids brushing for the recommended two minutes will hit US stores in September, transmitting the '60s pop hit Do You Believe in Magic? through their jawbones directly to their inner ears Toymaker Hasbro Inc said on Friday the battery-operated Tooth Tunes contains a tiny microchip that stores the song. Someone standing nearby would hear only a hum. The song plays for two minutes, the amount of time dentists recommend people spend brushing their teeth. Hasbro said the toothbrush will sell for under US$10 and will be offered initially at CVS drugstores, and eventually other stores.
■ Economy
China to ease exchange limit
China is taking measures to "gradually" open its capital account this year in a step toward making its currency fully convertible, state television said yesterday. "In 2005, we will gradually ease the limit on the amount of renminbi that can be exchanged under the capital account, another step in making the renminbi fully convertible," Guo Shuqing, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, was quoted by state-run China Central Television as saying. The measures would include allowing Chinese companies to keep capital raised in foreign listings offshore and allowing foreign companies to issue yuan-denominated bonds in China, the report said. A series of industrialized nations, most vocally the US, have complained bitterly for years that at the rate of 8.28 yuan per dollar at which it has been fixed for a decade, the Chinese currency is greatly undervalued.
■ Foreign Exchange
Beijing tackles transfers
China's Administration of Foreign Exchange said yesterday it will tighten controls on the overseas transfer of individual assets in a crackdown on corruption. The administration said on its Web site that its local offices would have to improve the inspection of applications for the cross-border transfer of assets, especially concerning their authenticity. Applications filed by government employees, including state-owned company executives, and those concerning assets valued at one million yuan (US$120,770) and above were of particular concern, it said. Many corrupt officials have amassed huge amounts of state assets, which they then transfer offshore to make them untraceable. State media said last year that about 4,000 corrupt Chinese officials have fled overseas in the past two decades, taking a staggering US$50 billion with them.
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