document.writeln("

Google Base to broaden search results
Mountain View, USA: Google has launched a beta version of Google Base on Wednesday. The tool will allow users to upload all kinds of content to Google's servers.

It is an extension of Google's existing content-collection efforts, with a goal of broadening Google search results, according to Salar Kamangar, vice president of product management.

"We think of it as an extension of the ways we have for collecting information," he said. "The prior method was one where we pulled information from the Web crawl, and that will continue to be our primary method. But we're experimenting with methods of pushing information ... where people can create content and push it to us."
Google Base lets users describe the content to be uploaded and assign attribute tags. When someone searches Google Base, each result will include a list of attributes to help the searcher hone in on the more relevant result.

To seed the database, Google worked with several information providers, including ArtNet, an online directory and marketplace for art; Career Builder, a job listings site; CollegeBoard.org, a membership organization that hosts college-planning resources; StepUp, a company that lets people search product lists of local retailers; and the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank that uploaded links to data on sustainability issues.

The company said Google Base demonstrates its efforts to make more types of information discoverable online.
Back to News Review index page  

APEC nations urge flexibility for trade deal
Seoul: Pacific Rim ministers, belonging to the APEC bloc, on Wednesday urged more flexibility in deadlocked global free trade talks, even as the top U.S. trade official called on the region's countries to use their growing influence to help break the logjam. The message was clearly aimed at Europe,

In a joint statement, the foreign and trade ministers gathering for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the South Korean city of Busan also agreed to strengthen cooperation in fighting the spread of bird flu and global terrorism, which they identified as a "serious threat" to the region.

"We don't believe the world community will let this once-in-a-generation opportunity slip past us," the U.S. trade representative, Rob Portman, said at a news conference in Busan. "I do think we can bridge the differences by having APEC play a more central role in the talks."

Talks scheduled to take place in Hong Kong from Dec. 13 to Dec. 15 are crucial to the success of the Doha round. But prospects remain uncertain as the EU has shown no signs of a new offer on agriculture.

In their joint statement, the APEC ministers attached "utmost importance" to meeting the target of completing the Doha round by the end of 2006.

They stopped short of singling out the EU by name, however, calling "other" WTO members to show flexibility.
Back to News Review index page  

Nokia to pay US$430mn for Blackberry rival
San Jose, USA: Finland`s Nokia will pay US$430mn to buy Intellisync Corp., a California-based wireless messaging software concern.

'With Intellisync, Nokia will be able to offer its customers the ability to connect practically any device to any data source, application, or network, empowering companies as they make mobility a de facto way of doing business,' the companies said in a statement.

Intellisync competes with Research In Motion Ltd.`s popular BlackBerry messaging system.
Back to News Review index page  

China unloading copper on the markets
London: Speculation over China's exposure to an alleged multimillion "rogue" copper trade by a government employee heightened yesterday after it embarked on a major sale of its stockpile.

The country's State Reserve Bureau (SRB) sold 20,000 tonnes of the base metal and said it would auction a further 20,000 tonnes next week. The SRB has sold more than US$240mn of copper this month as part of its efforts to ease a shortage on domestic markets and ease price pressure. A report that China could be planning to offload a total of 200,000 tonnes sent the price below US$4,100 a tonne after hitting a record US$4,174 on Tuesday.

The move comes two days after it emerged that Liu Qibing, the deputy head of imports and exports at the SRB, had promised to sell 200,000 tonnes of copper he did not own next month.

But the surge in copper prices is making it increasingly likely that he - or the Chinese authorities - will be forced to buy the metal to meet the contract.

The London Metal Exchange, through which the trades were placed, is not responsible for the trades and has insisted its role is to "maintain orderliness". If Liu and his employers refuse to honour the deal, the brokers would have to cover the losses.
Back to News Review index page