■ Internet
Softbank gets 3G license
Softbank Corp, Japan's second-largest high-speed Internet access provider, said it has a preliminary license to test so-called third-generation wireless communications technology. A license for Softbank to test TD-CDMA technology, one of the standards approved by the International Telecommunications Union for 3G mobile telephones, was granted by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, Hideo Azuma, a spokesman for Softbank, said. Softbank and eAccess Ltd, which provides networks for high-speed Internet access, last month applied separately for licenses to test high-speed wireless Internet access service based on the TD-CDMA technology, which can be used for voice connections and for e-mail and wireless Internet access.
■ Semiconductors
Company plans China plant
A Singapore parts manufacturer for Intel and Motorola says it plans to open a plant in China next year to meet rising demand for chipmaking gear. "Our customers are more positive," Chris Borch, president of Micro-Mechanics, said in an interview. "They've seen an increase in orders and some are beginning to order production equipment to handle the increased order level." Micro-Mechanics makes parts like the tiny needles that push freshly cut silicon chips out from wafer slabs, and the metal plates that hold chips in place while machines etch their circuitry. The global chip industry is estimated to reach US$200 billion next year -- driven by sales for chips used in everyday goods like mobile phones and TVs. The plant will be located in Suzhou near Shanghai and is expected to open in June.
■ Video games
Nintendo losing ground
Nintendo Co, the world's biggest maker of hand-held game players, may be falling behind rivals such as Sony Corp in development and sales of video games, according to a Washington Post report, citing industry analysts. Kyoto-based Nintendo, whose GameCube console appeals to younger buyers than those buying Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox, last month reported its first loss since going public in 1962. Sony has sold a total of about 60 million PlayStation 2 machines worldwide so far, compared with about 10 million for both the GameCube and the Xbox, the report said. The gap in sales is fueling speculation among some analysts that Nintendo may eventually go the way of Sega Corp and focus on game design, according to the report.
■ Petroleum
Petrobras awards contract
A Singaporean-French consortium may get a second multimillion dollar contract to build an offshore oil production platform from Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), a spokesman for the Brazilian energy firm said yesterday. The Petrobras spokesman told financial news agency AFX-Asia it was possible that the consortium involving FELS Setal, a unit of Singapore's Keppel Corp, and France's Technip may be given the second contract. "It is possible that the FELS Setal/Technip consortium is awarded both contracts," a Petrobras spokesman said in an e-mail response to an AFX-Asia query. The consortium was awarded the first contract this month to build the US$775 million P-52 platform after submitting the best bid. FELS Setal will have a 75 percent stake while Technip will have 25 percent.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
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