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World Business Quick Take

■ Economics
Asia giving Africa a boost
Some of the poorest African countries are reaping the benefits of the fast-growing economies of Asia, according to a report from the World Bank published yesterday. Almost a third of African exports are now sold to Asia, up from 14 percent in 2000, according to the bank. At the same time, Asian exports to Africa are growing at an extraordinary 18 percent a year. The report welcomes the increasing importance of this "south- south" trade, in contrast to the traditional pattern of Africa and Asia focusing on capturing US and European markets.

■ Casinos
Giuliani offers security
Five years after the terrorist attacks in New York, its former mayor Rudy Giuliani announced yesterday that he will provide security for a casino project in Singapore if a partner wins the bid. Giuliani Security Safety LCC will serve as the security planner and advisor of Eighth Wonder Asia, one of four possible bidders for Singapore's second casino project, which will be located on the resort island of Sentosa. "The initial agreement is to be involved in the Sentosa project for at least 10 years," Giuliani said. Singapore earlier announced it will give licenses for two major casino resorts in an effort to boost tourist arrivals. The government has awarded the first casino license to Las Vegas Sands Corp, which said it will invest US$3.2 billion in the project, located near downtown Singapore and due to be operational by 2009.

■ Crime
PRC cracks down on piracy
Chinese law enforcement agencies have destroyed nearly 13 million pirated compact discs, digital video discs and computer software in the government's latest campaign to curtail rampant theft of intellectual property, state media reported. The items destroyed on Saturday were confiscated in the first half of an ongoing 100-day nationwide campaign against piracy, the Xinhua news agency said. The targets of the raids included illegal factories, shops and street vendors, it said. Nearly half of the seized goods came from Guangdong, the economically dynamic southern province that abuts Hong Kong, the report said.

■ Computers
HP targeted spokesman
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP)officials said on Saturday that the company improperly accessed phone records of a corporate spokesman during its investigation into unauthorized leaks to the press. Spokesman Michael Moeller was one of two HP employees targeted during the company's internal probe, said Robert Sherbin, another HP spokesman, who would not identify the other targeted employee. Sherbin said the probe was "baseless" and found that Moeller had no part in the leaks. Moeller, a former reporter at BusinessWeek and PC Week, said that HP CEO Mark Hurd and chairwoman Patricia Dunn both apologized to him. Dunn has acknowledged that she authorized the investigation during which private investigators hired by HP used Social Security government identification numbers and other personal information to pose as company directors, employees and journalists and access logs of their home and cellphone calls. The probe resulted in the resignation of two HP directors and the demotion of a third. Dunn will step down as chairwoman in January and be replaced by Hurd.


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