■ China
Foreign trade hits record
China's foreign trade reached a new monthly record-high last month with total trade up 32.8 percent year-on-year to US$74.6 billion, the customs bureau reported yesterday. In the first seven months of the year, China's exports rose 33 percent year-on-year to US$228 billion, while im-ports were up nearly 43 percent to US$222 billion, the People's Daily said citing the General Admin-istration of Customs. It said general exports rose 35 percent from a year earlier to US$97.3 billion in the first seven months, while general imports were up 53 percent at US$103.95 billion. Elec-tronic exports rose 41 percent year-on-year to US$115.44 billion in the first seven months, it said.
■ Japan
Driver fatigue targeted
Japan's transport ministry is considering introducing a system to analyze voice recordings of train drivers and aircraft pilots for a few seconds to assess their level of fatigue and prevent accidents, said an official at the Engineering and Safety Department of the Land, Infrastructure and Trans-portation Ministry yester-day. "Since it uses voice recording, the system could be applied to people at the controls of any means of transport," the official said. The system can tell how tired or stressed the speaker is by detecting irregularities in frequency modulation and analysing other factors, he said. The ministry is considering introducing the system under a four-year project possibly starting next year, he said. In February, Japanese were shocked to discover the driver of a bullet train had fallen asleep on the job while travelling at 270kph with 800 passengers on board.
■ Cameras
Nikon posts profit
Nikon Corp of Japan said yesterday it managed to post a net profit in the three months to June thanks to its mainstay camera business as strong demand for digital cameras offset losses at its precision devices division. Nikon's net profit came to ¥69 million (US$579,800) in the June quarter, with recurring profit standing at ¥553 million on sales of ¥112.89 billion. This is the first time Nikon has reported quarterly earnings. The company did not change forecasts for the full year to next March -- a net profit of ¥5 billion, recurring profit of ¥9 billion on sales of ¥570 billion.
■ Software
Microsoft hires China chief
Microsoft Corp hired Moto-rola (China) Electronics Ltd chairman Timothy Chen to head up its China opera-tions, the Beijing Youth Daily said, without saying where it got the informa-tion. Microsoft will make an announcement on the hiring some time this week, the article said.
■ Automobiles
Hyundai's Q2 profit surges
Hyundai Motor Co had an 86 percent increase in second-quarter profit as it sold more Grandeur XG sedans, Santa Fe sport-utilities and other pricier vehicles over-seas. Net income jumped to 571 billion won (US$484 million) in the three months ended June 30, from 307 billion won in the same period last year. Hyundai and other South Korean carmakers focused on exports this year after domestic demand fell when the government tightened requirements on individual borrowing. Hyundai's profit may fall in the third quarter after the company agreed to increase employees' salaries following a strike, an investor said.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
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