■ US jobs
Small firms to outsource
About 27 percent of US chief executive officers of small and midsize businesses plan to send jobs overseas within the next three years, the <
■ Mobile phones
Usage soars in India
India, one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile phones, has signed up nearly 19 million new users in the past year, the government said. The figure reflects booming demand fueled by a growing middle class and price cuts by service providers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said on Monday. India added almost 1.7 million new subscribers in February, bringing the total number of mobile phones in use to 31.67 million, the authority said. A year earlier, the number was 12.87 million. Teledensity -- the extent of phone usage per 100 people -- increased to 7.2 from 5.11 a year earlier, it added. The Cellular Operators Association of India, a trade body representing most mobile phone companies, expects the number of mobile phones to exceed land-line phones in India by year end. India currently has about 42 million land-based phones.
■ Oil
OPEC to cut supplies
Purnomo Yusgiantoro, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the cartel would seek to manipulate the oil price through cuts in the supply beginning April 1. "The policy hasn't been changed. We want the crude oil price at US$22 to US$28 a barrel, although we have been planning to cut output quota by April 1 by one million barrel per day," Purnomo, Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources minister, said in Jakarta. "But if crude prices rise above US$28 a barrel for a certain period, it is possible for us to increase production. Right now, we are consulting each other. We do have an automatic adjustment policy. Our principle is to maintain security of supply to the market.
■ Steel
Japan imports from India
Japan resumed imports of steel plates from India after a year's halt to help it meet shortages of the material, the Japan Metal Daily said, without saying where it got the information. Japan is buying 6,000 tonnes of steel plates from India for loading in April for about US$590 a tonne on a cost and freight basis, or about 66,000 yen a tonne, the paper said. The steel plates are expected to arrive in Japan at the end of June, the paper said. Japan paying more for steel from India than steel from South Korea-based Posco because of a shortage of the material, the paper said. Posco charges ¥58,000 (US$521) a tonne for steel plates, the paper said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS