■ Internet
China e-commerce to boom
China's e-commerce transaction volume is expected to rise 36 percent this year to 600 billion yuan (US$72 billion), state media reported yesterday. The forecast for this year's online activity, which is up from 440 billion yuan last year, was reported by Xinhua news agency, quoting the China Electronic Commerce Association. The growth is mainly concentrated in the nation's largest commercial hubs along the eastern seaboard, Xinhua said. The agency said the development of the sector is assisted by the government via measures such as a new law taking effect last month that provides a legal framework for the use of electronic signatures.
■ Entertainment
Wynn chides Singapore
Steve Wynn, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Ltd, said Singapore officials managing the bidding process for two planned integrated resorts were exerting too much direction and control over design requirements, the Sunday Times reported yesterday, citing a Business Times interview. "It's control and direction given by people who've never done this before. I don't think it's appropriate to tell someone: Give us an attraction that's irresistible, that will reach into India and China -- but we'll tell you how to design it," the report quoted Wynn as saying in the interview.
■ Energy
Japan to build Iraq plant
Japan plans to spend US$100 million to construct a power plant in Samawah, southern Iraq, where it sent a 600-strong Self Defense Forces contingent on a non-combat mission, Kyodo News reported. The 60-megawatt thermal power plant, to be built using Japanese grant aid, may begin operations in 2007, the report said, citing government officials who weren't identified. The government will complete the plan after it finishes calculating the cost of the project, Kyodo said. The province of Muthana, whose capital is Samawah, is the only one among Iraq's 18 provinces that doesn't have a power plant, Kyodo said.
■ Automotive
VW earnings to get boost
Volkswagen AG sales and earnings may benefit from the introduction of new models this year and cost cuts, Barron's reported, citing investors and industry analysts. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker will introduce 20 models or variations of models this year, which should help re-ignite earnings growth, the weekly newspaper said. Investors are under-estimating the potential savings of labor contracts negotiated last year, Simon Holman, a fund manager with Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh, told Barron's.
■ Aerospace
Executive to block French
The head of DaimlerChrysler vowed Saturday to block Frenchman Noel Forgeard from taking the co-helm at European aerospace giant EADS. "We will stop the French unilaterally taking power," Jurgen Schrempp, the head of the German car firm, a major EADS shareholder, said in an interview set to appear yesterday in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. His comments are the latest twist in a tug-of-war for control of the defence and space company and come after Forgeard told French daily Le Figaro on Friday that strains at EADS concerned only the shareholders and did not reflect any strains between France and Germany.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
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