■ Shipping
Cargo technology approved
US federal regulators on Thursday approved technological enhancements allowing more thorough checks of sealed cargo containers, part of the effort to prevent terrorists from using US ports to smuggle explosives or chemical weapons. More than 7 million tractor-trailer-size containers from overseas are unloaded at US ports each year. Checking them is time-consuming, so only a very small percentage gets a thorough inspection. Some containers from overseas ports are now outfitted with electronic tags that act similarly to the transponders put on cars so they can pass through toll plazas without stopping. When such a container arrives at a US port, customs agents can check the tag to get a quick readout on the cargo and determine whether the container was opened or tampered with in transit.
■ Software
Wipro's profit jumps
Software major Wipro yesterday said its net profit jumped 26 percent in the year to last month as it became the second listed IT firm in India to breach the US$1 billion revenue mark. Net profit rose to 10.32 billion rupees (US$240 million) from 8.2 billion rupees a year earlier and total revenues of the New York-listed firm shot up 36 percent to 58.8 billion rupees. "Our combined IT products and services business achieved a significant landmark by recording revenues of US$1.2 billion," Wipro chairman Aziz Premji, said at a press briefing in the southern city of Bangalore. "Revenue from our IT services business alone was US$1 billion," he said. "Looking ahead for the quarter ending June 2004 we expect revenues from our global IT services business to be approximately US$292 million."
■ Wireless
AT&T can name that tune
AT&T Wireless began offering its US subscribers a service Thursday that uses mobile phones to identify the names and performers of more than 1 million popular songs. To use the music recognition service, users dial a three-digit code, then must hold their mobile phone for about 15 seconds near a speaker playing the tune that they want to identify. Moments later, the service sends a text message to the users' mobile phone indicating the title of the song and the name of the recording artist. The first search is free, each subsequent search costs US$0.99, plus standard airtime charges. Subscribers are not charged if the service fails to recognize a song. "We've all been in a situation where we hear a song that we like, but have no idea of its title or who sings it," said Glenice Maclellan, the company's vice president of messaging services. "Now, your wireless phone can `name that tune' for you."
■ Economics
Credit growth worries China
China's Vice Minister of Finance Li Yong said the government is concerned that credit growth is fueling inflation and may cause a buildup of bad loans at the nation's banks. "Too high a credit growth rate can result in inflation and asset price bubbles, generating new non-performing loans," Li said in a speech at the Institute of International Finance conference in Shanghai. "The Ministry of Finance is very worried about that." Investment in steel, cement and aluminum is still rising, in defiance of government attempts to stem lending to overheated industries, according to Li.
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