■ Telecoms
Nokia sees strong growth
Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said on Thursday that it expected the global mobile phone market to grow by more than 10 percent next year. The Finnish company also forecast that the number of mobile subscriptions would surpass three billion in 2008, two years earlier than the target date of 2010 it predicted in February. Nokia said it expected "the mobile device industry volumes in 2006 to grow more than 10 percent from the 780 million units we estimate for 2005, and the mobile device market to also grow in value in 2006." The forecasts came as Nokia held its Capital Markets Days in New York on Thursday and yesterday. Regarding its own financial outlook for the next one to two years, Nokia said its operating margin target remained stable at 17 percent.
■ Automotive
Nissan creates smart paint
Nissan Motor said yesterday it had created a paint that repairs scratches on its own, restoring a car's surface to normal within a week. The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car's outer layer. Wear and tear due to everything from fingernails to roadside objects will disappear in one day to one week depending on the temperature and the seriousness of the scratch, Nissan said in a statement. The "Scratch Guard Coat" paint, which protects for three years, will debut on a sports-utility vehicle which is set for a makeover, Nissan said. The paint also helps prevent scratches in the first place.
■ Electronics
Pioneer to cut 600 jobs
Troubled Japanese electronics maker Pioneer Corp will cut 600 jobs in Japan as part of a revival plan that will also better integrate the company's television and audio equipment units, a newspaper reported yesterday. The job cuts will come through early retirements and are in addition to the 2,000 worldwide job cuts Pioneer announced in March, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, citing a restructuring blueprint that company executives compiled Thursday. Pioneer spokesman Kesanobu Yamagishi would not comment on the report but confirmed that the company is drafting a comeback plan that will be unveiled on Thursday. He could not say whether additional job cuts are being considered.
■ Trade
Trade area gets boost
Seven South Asian countries have finalized an agreement to set up a free trade area, the Indian government said yesterday, a move predicted to more than double the size of the regional market. The landmark deal to create a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) was signed in Islamabad in January last year during a summit of regional leaders, with this coming January 1 set as a deadline for implem-entation. However the deal by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), was expected to become fully operational only by 2016. "The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement has been finalized," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. The statement was issued after "receiving intimation from Kathmandu about the deliberations of the Committee of Experts on SAFTA which met there from 29th November-1st December 2005 to resolve the outstanding issues ... so as to complete the negotiations," Nath said.
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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