■ WORKPLACE
Business stress on the rise
Eight out of 10 business leaders in China have reported an increase in stress in the past year, a far greater jump than European counterparts who work the fewest number of hours per week worldwide, a study disclosed on Wednesday. The accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton found that 84 percent of Chinese executives responding to a survey reported an increase in stress levels compared to a year ago. Business leaders in three other powerhouses also suffered increases in stress -- Taiwan, where 82 percent of those questioned said stress had risen, India, 79 percent and Russia, 76 percent.
■ COMPUTERS
YouTube on Apple TV
Apple Inc said on Wednesday it will soon introduce the ability for Apple TV users to access the popular YouTube service on their living room TVs through its video-streaming set-top-box. Beginning this month, users of the Apple TV device will be able to wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube. The slim, book-sized device streams movies and songs stored in the user's iTunes personal library but cannot directly access Internet-based videos. Earlier that day Apple started selling songs without copy protection software on its iTunes Store -- a move analysts say will be a model for future online music sales.
■ ECONOMY
Indian economy booming
India's economy grew faster than expected at a record 9.4 percent in the year to March, beating a government forecast of 9.2 percent yesterday and raising hopes of more foreign investment. The record-breaking performance was driven by upward revisions to manufacturing and services output in previous quarters and a jump in overseas investment, the central statistical organization said. In the previous fiscal year, India's economy grew 9 percent. The government said the economy grew 9.1 percent in the three months to March and that the previous three quarters of the fiscal year had been revised upwards.
■ ECONOMY
US growth slows
The US economy slowed to a 0.6 percent growth pace in the first quarter, the government said yesterday in a revision for the January-March period. GDP was revised down from last month's estimate of 1.3 percent and was the slowest pace in more than four years, the Commerce Department report showed. The department said the latest revision came as a result of a bigger-than-expected trade deficit, which meant more goods consumed in the US were produced abroad. Real estate remained the main drag on economic growth, as spending on residential investment fell 15.4 percent, it said.
■ OIL
Vast oil field discovered
A South Korean consortium has confirmed the existence of a huge oil field off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) said yesterday. A KNOC-led consortium and Russia's state-owned Rosneft now estimate that the oilfield off Russia's Far East holds up to 10 billion barrels of oil, far larger than previously estimated, KNOC said. The South Korean consortium has a 40 percent stake in the project, with Rosneft holding the rest. "We plan to carry out further analyses with a view to drilling test holes late next year," he said, adding that commercially recoverable reserves are usually about 40 percent of geographical reserves.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
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