■ Internet
Scented e-mail a possibility
Internet users in Britain might soon be able to spice up their e-mails with an added whiff of a well-chosen scent, according to a report yesterday. A British Internet service provider plans to market a "scent dome," which would plug into customers' computers much like a printer, The Times said. Inside the device would be 20 disposable pockets of different scents, which could be combined -- much like the colored-ink cartridges on a printer -- to make up to 60 identifiable different smells, the paper reported. These would be released by electronic signals sent along a broadband Internet line. Telewest Broadband, the company involved, is testing the scent pods and hopes to make them available for around ?200 (US$380), the paper added.
■ Copyrights
US accused of being unfair
A maker of DVD-copying software accused the US and its movie industry of unfairly influencing copyright and privacy matters overseas, perhaps accounting for the product being pulled off shelves in Australia. Though Australia is a sliver of 321 Studios Inc's global market, a distributor's yanking DVD X Copy from Australian store shelves under threats of lawsuits by a movie industry lobbying group reflects Hollywood's troubling reach, 321 chief executive Rob Semaan said Wednesday. The company since has replaced the original software with a version unable to unlock copyright-protecting encryption, though such tools readily can be bought from 321 or other Web sites.
■ Banking
Shinsei IPO goes well
Japan's Shinsei Bank Ltd -- bailed out by the government then bought by foreign investors -- made a strong debut with its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. Massive buying orders were received for the 440 million shares being offered at ?525 (US$5). The stock rose to ?872 in the afternoon before finishing at ?827, about 57 percent higher than the IPO price, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. A total of 247 million Shinsei Bank shares changed hands, making it by far the most actively traded issue on the TSE's first section. Shinsei Bank was created in 2000 from the remains of the collapsed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. The government piled more than ?7 trillion (US$66 billion) of public money into LTCB, and the nationalized institution was then bought by a consortium led by US investment firm Ripplewood Holdings.
■ Cars
Beijing to rein in purchases
Beijing is considering putting limitations on the number of government procured automobiles in a move that could have a large impact on China's booming car industry, state press said yesterday. Deputies at the ongoing Beijing municipal congress have urged the city government to limit the number of cars used exclusively by government officials in an effort to relieve the Chinese capital's increasingly snarled traffic congestion, the China Daily said. "To cancel cars exclusively used by government official will also save a big amount of money and gasoline," Zhang Yun, a delegate to the congress, told the newspaper. According to official statistics at the end of 2002, Beijing had a total of 1.12 million passenger cars, of which only 729,000 were privately-owned, non-government cars, meaning some 471,000 were government or state-owned-enterprise vehicles.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2