IV. International
(01-02-06)
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As recently as
2003, US led in global information and communication
technology exports. But in 2005,
China
shipped $180 billion
worth of such goods worldwide, exceeding US exports
valued at $149 billion, said OECD, funded by 30
market-based countries, including the US.
.
Most tsunami survivors in
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
India are
still homeless a year later. Only one-fifth of the 1.8
million people made homeless by last December’s tsunami
were in permanent homes by the end of 2005.
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The WTO has evolved its own language since it was
set up 10 years ago, an impenetrable lexicon of terms,
such as BITs (bilateral investment treaties), BTAs
(border tax adjustments), NAMA (non-agricultural market
access), NTA (non-tariff barriers),m to mention a few.
.
Chinese
Internet users tend to be young—80% are under 24, and
two-thirds are male, according to the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences.
.
Four years after
China
joined the WTO, foreign firms give it a fairly positive
report card, but say many challenges remain.
.
A UN torture investigator returning from China said
authorities subjected detainees to electric shocks,
beatings and sleep deprivation.
.
A former top
US diplomat (Robert Litt) pleads guilty to concealing a
relationship with a Taiwanese
intelligence officer (Isabelle Cheng). He was the same
guy 5 years ago, then deputy director of State’s Bureau
of Intelligence & Research, who was suspended without
pay over a missing top-secret laptop computer at the
department.
.
Taiwan stocks, the second-worst
performers in the Asia-Pacific region in 2005, may
rebound in 2006, as local election losses prompted the
government to improve ties with China, brokerages said.
.
Taiwan’s sub-tropical climate gives it the right to
grow tropical fruits. This natural environment is made
even more fruitful with modern agricultural methods and
hard-working farmers.
.
Companies
turned more optimistic in Dec. and improved exports and
firm domestic consumption, demonstrating the economy is
continuing its gradual upswing, according to the Bank
of
Japan’s
quarterly business survey.
.
Six
brokerages, including the Japanese unit of Switzerland’s
UBS group, agree to relinquish the 16.8 billion
yen windfall from Mizuho Securities Co.’s
erroneous sell order from J-Com Co. shares.
.
Toyota Motor Corp’s labor union in planning to
demand an increase in members’ basic monthly pay for the
first time in 4 years in the next round of wage
negotiations in the spring, industry sources said.
.
The
Manpower Ministry of
Singapore
said that for the first 9 months of 2005, employment
expanded by 78,000 surpassing the 71,400 gains of the
whole of 2004.
.
SMRT
now encourages passengers to tip cabbies who give good
service and promises refunds to those who receive bad
service.
.
An Australian
man was executed in Singapore for drug trafficking.
Nguyen Tuong Van was executed despite appeals for his
life to be spared.
.
US refused to
lift sanctions against
Pyongyang,
North Korea
calling it a “criminal regime” that deals in arms,
counterfeiting and money laundering.
.
South Korea
vowed continued support for cloning pioneer Hwang
despite his resignation as head of an international
center for stem-cell research amid criticism about
ethics.
.
The won continued its rally against US
dollars as the latest strong job market figures stoked
speculation that the central bank may make additional
interest rate increases.
.
The Monetary
Board of the
Philippines
kept its policy interest rate unchanged, citing a strong
peso, easing oil prices and the end of the dry spell,
the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
.
Filipinos working abroad sent home in October more money
than they did in the same month last year ($867 million
compared with $741.5 million a year ago).
.
The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) announced
it will provide substantial loans to food & fruit
exporters, since a growing number of Filipinos working
abroad will have a healthy demand for local agricultural
products.
.
Roche said it
has told
Thailand,
Philippines and Indonesia that
they can make Tamiflu without paying compensation.
.
The Bank of Thailand raised interest rates by a
quarter point to 4%, but noted that inflationary
pressure had moderated.
.
Ford Motor Co. says it will not rely on a planned
Thailand-US free trade agreement to expand its business
as it steps up its ASEAN presence with a 40-billion baht
investment at its Auto Alliance Thailand plant in
Rayong.
.
Islamic groups
staged separate demonstrations in
Indonesia
outside the US & Australian embassies in Jakarta last
month and warned US not to attack Afghanistan or other
Muslim nations, as well as condemning recent attacks on
mosques in Queensland, Australia.
.
American companies made a commitment to invest more in
Indonesia provide the government can guarantee legal
certainty and security.
.
Cement producer PT Semen Padang is planning to
expand its business in Jakarta and Banten by setting up
a new packaging plant as well as allocating most of its
cement exports to this market.
.
Leaders of 10
ASEAN countries and their partners vowed to foster
strategic dialogue and promote cooperation in political
and security issues for peace at the historic first East
Asian Summit (EAS) in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
last month.
.
Air Asia Bhd is fully prepared to service all
domestic route it has proposed to take over from
Malaysia Airlines (MAS), says its group CEO.
.
Tourism Director said Sabah has a great need for guides
with language proficiency in Russian, Italian, Korean
and Japanese with the infrastructure expansion such as
KK International Airport.
.
The
information and communication technology sector of
Vietnam
will play an important role in the national economy by
2010, with annual revenue of $6-$7 billion and growth
rates of 20% to 25%, said the Deputy Minister of
Posts & Telematics, Le Nam Thang.
.
Domestic institutional investors snapped up VND840
billion worth of convertible bonds allocated for them by
the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam at an auction held
simultaneously at HCM City and Hanoi.
.
It is feared that the Ministry of Agricultural & Rural
Development’s (MARD) corporations will face a lack of
capital for their subsidiaries when the corporations are
equitised to operate under parent subsidiary mode.
.
India could
earn $60 billion a year by 2010 from information
technology and outsourcing, says a recent report.
.
The number of India’s Web users will more than
double, from 38.5 million to 100 million in 2 years, the
Internet & Mobile Association of India said.
.
Nine wedding guests died of suspected alcohol
poisoning from drinking toxic home-brewed liquor in a NE
village.
.
Pakistan’s
national government has rejected growers’ proposal to
set rice support price and has allowed the existing
mechanism to continue, which was strongly supported by
the exporters.
.
The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet has
called for reducing line rents and taxes on
telecommunication services.
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Members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
said they would have to shift textile mills and other
manufacturing units to neighboring countries, if the
price of natural gas was increased.
