■ Nationalization
Calderon invites big firms
Multinational companies facing nationalizations by unfriendly governments are welcome to invest in Mexico, President Felipe Calderon told executives on Thursday. Calderon said Mexico needed more long-term investment from multinational corporations to create jobs and boost economic expansion. "While other governments in the world and Latin America are thinking about expropriating or seizing your investments, in Mexico we are thinking about how to give guarantees to increase investment in our country," Calderon told businessmen representing foreign companies.
■ Automakers
Toyota recalls vehicles
Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it was recalling 544,000 pickup and sport utility vehicles mainly in the US because of a defect that could affect the steering. Of the total, 533,000 vehicles -- Sequoia SUVs and Tundra pickup trucks -- were recalled in the US and the remainder in Canada and Germany, a Toyota spokeswoman said. Toyota sold a record 2.54 million vehicles in the US last year. "There is a possibility that the front suspension lower ball joint may experience excessive wear and looseness, causing increased steering effort, reduced vehicle self centering and noise in the front suspension," Toyota said in a statement. The recall covers certain 2004 through early 2007 model Sequoias and 2004 through late 2006 model Tundra vehicles.
■ Outsourcing
Philippines expects boom
The Philippines expects a huge jump in its outsourcing business, with earnings forecast at US$12.4 billion by 2010 after US$3.63 billion last year, the Trade and Industry Department said yesterday. Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila said that the number of Filipinos working in the sector was expected to jump to 920,764 in 2010 from the current 244,675. The anticipated upturn will follow efforts to encourage more outsourcing of high-value back-office business operations in the country, Favila said. Call centers in the country earned a total of US$2.69 billion last year.
■ Telecoms
HDTV hits Singapore
Singapore's sole cable operator, StarHub, has launched a high-definition TV (HDTV) service for subscribers in the city-state, making it the first to offer the facility in Southeast Asia. StarHub will offer viewers two HD channels -- the National Geographic Channel HD and Discovery HD. The US, Australia, Korea and Japan have already launched HDTV services, while China has committed to HDTV telecasts of next year's Olympic Games.
■ Computers
IBM profit tops forecasts
IBM Corp topped analyst forecasts on Thursday with a reported US$3.5 billion profit in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year earnings for last year to US$9.5 billion. The profit in the October-December quarter was 11 percent higher than a year ago and translated to US$2.26 per share, compared with analyst forecasts of US$2.19. Revenues for IBM increased 7 percent to US$26.2 billion in the quarter, ahead of Wall Street forecasts of US$25.6 billion. For the full year, profits rose 19 percent on revenues of US$91.4 billion, a gain of just 0.3 percent. IBM ended the year with US$10.7 billion of cash on hand and said the company "is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities."
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
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