■ Environment
Nanotechnology regulated
The Berkeley City Council has approved the US' only local nanotechnology regulations, another first for the city already well-known for taking the lead in banning Styrofoam containers. The council on Tuesday decided to amend its hazardous materials law to include nano-sized particles -- some as small as one-millionth the width of the head of a pin. The change takes effect tomorrow. The unanimous action compels researchers and manufacturers to report what nanotechnology materials they are working with and how they are handling them.
■ Semiconductors
Firms to make 45nm chip
Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest chipmaker, Sony Corp and NEC Electronics Corp have jointly developed technology for making 45nm system chips to reduce unit costs and produce more powerful semiconductors. The new process will allow more efficient production of advanced system LSI, or large-scale integration semiconductors, which pack several functions onto a single chip, the companies said yesterday in a press release. Toshiba and the other two Japanese companies haven't decided when they will start commercial production of the 45nm chips, Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said.
■ Environment
Asia's CO2 output to surge
Fast-rising family incomes and brisk demand for cars will treble Asia's carbon dioxide emissions over the next 25 years, according to a study backed by the Asian Development Bank and released yesterday. The report, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change: Considerations for On-Road Transport in Asia, presents one of the first comprehensive analyses of the relationships between transport and climate change in Asia, Philippines-based ADB said in a statement. Even under the most optimistic current scenarios for road traffic expansion management, emissions will treble over the next 25 years, the study said.
■ Computers
Firms launch search software
Yahoo and IBM jointly introduced free software on Wednesday that businesses can use to find information stored in their computers or on the Internet. IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition was billed as a "no-cost, entry-level enterprise search product" and will compete against offerings from Google and others in a growing business data search market. Enterprise search systems typically cost thousands of dollars. Google has offerings selling for as much as US$30,000 in what is considered the low end of the business market. The Yahoo-powered IBM offering can be downloaded for free and easily installed on existing computer hardware, according to the firms.
■ Banking
Koreans love credit cards
South Koreans are the world's second-biggest credit cards users after the British, according to an international survey seen yesterday. New York-based Nielsen Media said nearly seven in 10 South Koreans have a credit card, the highest ratio in the Asia-Pacific after Australia with 61 percent and New Zealand with 59 percent. "South Koreans rank closely behind the British, the world's number one when it comes to credit cards, where penetration sits at 70 percent," said Helen Pemberton, a director at Nielson.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
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