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Over the past year, US citizens have become increasingly aware of the substandard consumer-level goods flowing out of China, but new reports indicate that the counterfeit products and dubious quality controls are not confined to the consumer sector. An increasingly large number of supposedly military-grade electronic components are turning out to be counterfeit commercial-grade hardware that, in some cases, is decades older than the manufacturing label indicates. The problem, to be sure, is not entirely China's fault. Back in 1994 and 1996, the Clinton Administration passed two bills, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (1994), and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996...

Hi, With the grave reality of the fall of the US housing economy as well as the loss of jobs here in US,I am deeply concerned and worried about the future of our nation as a whole and thought of writing to you as you all can ring the bells into the ears of a vast-section of the population. The grave effects of offshoring and then the indiscriminate loans being provided for hiked-up properties for non-qualified people have put the country at it's very end days.We don't have jobs anymore more our people,our jobs have been transferred to India,China and...

WASHINGTON: “People of India deeply love you,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told United States President George W. Bush here on Thursday evening. Sitting within a handshake distance from the American President at the Oval Office, Dr. Singh uttered those words, which produced a smile of satisfaction on Mr. Bush’s face but left the Indian media puzzled. Normally not given to loquaciousness, Dr. Singh found himself in an expressive mood and easily showered liberal praise on his host. “In the last four and half years that I have been Prime Minister, I have been the recipient of your generosity, your affection,...

Corporate India is in shock after a mob of workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who sacked them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi. Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, a manufacturer of car parts that has its headquarters in Italy, died of severe head wounds on Monday after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said. The incident, in Greater Noida, followed a long-running dispute between the factory’s management and workers demanding better pay and permanent contracts. It is understood that Mr Choudhary, who was married with one...

Soaring energy costs, the falling dollar and inflation are cutting into what U.S. manufacturers call the "China price"-- the 40 to 50 percent cost advantage once offered by Chinese producers.

Indian outsourcing sector is in the decline especially in the IT Sector. The easy money time for the Indian bidy shoppers and custom software constructors is perhaps over as US economy sinks into long term recession tranforming into slow and steady multidecade depression. McCain’s choice of Palin is something that can crush the last hopes of Indian outsourcing companies. Palin is a social conservative. Unlike US president George Bush and Senetor Nccain she will put US interest first before allowing ruthless outsourcing at the expense of American well paid jobs. Governor palin is a stonch follower of Pat Buchanan who...

Congress adjourned for a month-long recess on Aug. 1, the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released distressing news about unemployment. The July economic news was not good. The official unemployment rate hit a four-year high of 5.7 percent, as the economy shed 51,000 jobs last month, bringing the total of lost jobs for 2008 to 463,000. Seemingly oblivious to what is happening back in their states and districts, the House Immigration Subcommittee finished up business for the rest of the summer by approving legislation that, if enacted, would “recapture” some 557,000 visas that were not used during...

Nielsen gets tax breaks to hire local workers, then outsources some jobs Nielsen Co., the media company known for audience measurement, has given up tens of thousands of dollars in local tax breaks this year after signing an outsourcing deal with an India-based offshore provider. The move, which has drawn negative reviews from local officials, came after the company announced it would lay off 117 workers at its global technology center Oldsmar, Fla. Although companies that hire outsourcing firms often try to limit the release of information about layoffs through employee nondisclosure agreements tied to severance and public statements, Nielsen...

The future just keeps getting dimmer and dimmer for American print journalists. As daily newspaper circulation and ad revenue plummet, newspapers are taking every possible avenue toward cost-cutting. The latest trend is outsourcing jobs to India. Business Week reports that the publisher of the Orange County Register is experimentally outsourcing copy editing and layout work to India. An Indian company will take over copy editing duties for some stories published in The Orange County Register and will handle page layout for a community newspaper at the company that owns the Pulitzer Prize-winning daily, the newspaper confirmed Tuesday. Orange County Register...

ABU DHABI — A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has been certified as a partner in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism. DP World underwent a successful audit that determined the company met international ISO 28000 security standards required by C-TPAT. In 2007, DP abandoned plans to purchase a British company that operated six major ports in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. Congress was opposed to...

June 18, 2008 Investors Seek Asian Options to Costly China By KEITH BRADSHER HANOI — Canon is no longer building or expanding factories in China, but the company is doubling its work force at a printer factory outside Hanoi to 8,000.

Joining the online outsourcing trend, Microsoft puts it hand out to grab a piece or perhaps all of the outsourcing pie. Together, Microsoft Research Asia (Beijing, China) and Microsoft Office Labs have launched Task Market. Task Market is an online marketplace for jobs where freelancers make themselves available to assist in their area of expertise. And buyers looking for a little extra help on a project post their job descriptions and await bids. Chinese fans of Microsoft will instantly recognize the design and concept of the “technical preview” site featuring colors, style and sections for ‘Buyers’ (Business) and ‘Providers’ (Freelancers)...

The rising cost of shipping everything from industrial-pump parts to lawn-mower batteries to living-room sofas is forcing some manufacturers to bring production back to North America and freeze plans to send even more work overseas. "My cost of getting a shipping container here from China just keeps going up -- and I don't see any end in sight," says Claude Hayes, president of the retail heating division at DESA LLC. He says that cost has jumped about 15%, to about $5,300, since January and is set to increase again next month to $5,600. HOMEWARD BOUND • The News: Soaring fuel...

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Members of a program that brought teachers from India into St. Lucie County School classrooms will be back in the classroom in the fall, according to school district officials. Fifteen teachers who were initially part of a Florida Atlantic University pilot program aimed to bring foreign teachers into the classroom will be back teaching in critical shortage areas like science and math in the fall as regular St. Lucie County School District employees, said Susan Ranew, the school district’s assistant superintendent of human resources. The pilot program that brought the teachers to St. Lucie County ended...

<p>Would you pay extra to have an American answer your customer-service call? Dell is hoping you will.</p> <p>The computer maker recently put out a press release announcing “new premium support service.” The plan: For a fee, people get the right to talk to “the same dedicated team each time they have an issue” with a Dell product. The kicker: The service will be provided by “an advanced support team in North America.”</p>

One among 20 IT workers in Bangalore regularly considers suicide,according to a survey done by leading newsmagazine, India Today. The survey further reports that 36% of Bangalore's IT workers can be classified as "probably psychiatric" cases, while 10% report severe, continuous mental stress. These findings are surprising especially since India is on the rise, with stratospheric salaries, opportunity available on an unprecedented scale, and global avenues within reach. Why is the Indian IT worker so unhappy? Incessant international travel making him feel rootless, fear of the pink slip, impossible deadlines of the global economy and constant guilt of not meeting...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Satya Mohan never saw students dance in the hallways before, let alone bang on lockers and doors as they often do outside his third-floor classroom at Bassick High School. Eight-and-a-half months into the school year, this teacher from India has grown used to it. "Excuse me, off to your room," he tells a student who doesn't belong in his fifth-period science class, before motioning him out and shutting the door. The dozen students who do belong in the class then set about the task of finishing an assignment on polymers and recycling. Darren Thompson, 15, a freshman...

US slump to prop up India as next offshoring hotspot 14 May, 2008, 0750 hrs IST,Chiranjoy Sen, TNN BANGALORE: Belt-tightening by global technology giants—a fallout of US economic slowdown—is likely to reinforce India as the most preferred offshoring destination. Top technology firms are actively moving part of their workforce from the US, UK and European markets to lower-cost destinations. They cite availability of local talent, better delivery and conducive enviroment as key offshoring reasons. While they may not admit it, firms would be looking at stepping the gas on offshoring to curb bloating costs and to lift margins. Networking and...

A federal investigation is under way into the organization raising funds for a memorial to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in the nation’s capital, according to two people interviewed as part of the inquiry. Word of the investigation comes as the foundation is drawing scrutiny and complaints over its decision to commission a Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, to create a statue, made from Chinese granite, to become the centerpiece of the King memorial just off the National Mall in Washington. Last month, a federal panel that has final approval over such memorials, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, said...

Workers at Johnson Controls Inc.'s factory in Northwood learned in February that their jobs building seats for the Jeep Wrangler were being outsourced to India by 2010. But that plan may have proven a bit ambitious. Yesterday, the manufacturing chief for Chrysler LLC told an automotive trade publication that at least part of the work - the more complex front seats - will stay local. Meanwhile, the Indian company that won the work, Krishna Maruti Ltd., is looking for space in the Toledo area and plans to hire as many as 70 people to produce the rear seats, according to...

"Ohio has three things it is promoting that is destined to make it the newest state to suffer a mass exodus going forward of it's existing population and absolutely zero attractability for new residents: A limited and parochial world view of Foreign Direct Investment, the UAW and TEAMSTERS Unions, and a state income tax that is funding legacy health and welfare systems that need to be rethought. The three great things: Ohio State, Lake Erie, and the Cleveland Clinic have an uphill battle to balance the above. Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur ranted, "They are selling America" when recent Asian...

Two contract security guards at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport were suspended in the wake of Wednesday's security breach in which a man slipped past a vehicle checkpoint and was found sleeping on a plane.

NEW DELHI: US civil and defence aerospace major Boeing has decided to outsource two critical components of the F-18 Super Hornet combat aircraft to India and the order for one of them could go to the Tatas. Lt Gen Jeffrey B. Kohler, Boeing vice president for international strategy, told the India Strategic defence magazine that as a “responsible world player in aerospace, Boeing wanted a long-term, trusted partnership with India and that the orders for these two components are being placed now irrespective of whether or not the company wins the tender for 126 Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA).” Both...

The new economics of outsourcing  April 23, 2008  Softtek, a Monterrey (Mexico) provider of IT services, added 30 new clients last year. Most of them had been using Indian firms for at least part of their outsourced IT. But they came to Softtek because they "were looking for something else," says Beni Lopez, CEO of nearshore services for the company, which has operations around the world. Companies that traditionally rely on India for offshore IT services have been looking for that something beyond India for years, citing such reasons as high employee turnover and unreliable communications. But the search has...

Miguel Angel Arreola's skilled friends used to talk of leaving this industrial state to look for better jobs in the United States. But a $200-million investment by Bombardier Inc., the world's third-largest airplane maker, is helping build an aerospace industry in this city of a million, 220 kilometres north of Mexico City. With Bombardier's Mexican labour force expected to quintuple to 2,000 workers by 2010 from 400 in 2006 -- and with the company urging Canadian aerospace suppliers to head south -- Arreola and his peers are now in big demand. "People who were thinking of going to other places...

DAKAR (Reuters) - African nations should follow Venezuela's lead and nationalize their energy and mining sectors to secure the resources to fight poverty, Venezuela's deputy foreign minister for Africa said on Friday. Reinaldo Bolivar, on a visit to Senegal, said his oil-rich South American nation would host a summit of African and South American nations in November to discuss cooperation ranging from energy to banking between the two regions. African nations, which produce 15 percent of the world's oil, could learn from aspects of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's nine-year-old leftist revolution, Bolivar said. "Africa's oil is plundered by multinationals: they...

The indignation of Americans is growing rapidly about the U.S. Air Force granting a French company a $35 billion tanker-aircraft contract that could eventually grow to $100 billion and is estimated to create 100,000 jobs in Europe. French government subsidies are one of the factors that enabled the lucky company (known as EADS) to underbid Boeing. Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, is leading the battle in Congress to overturn this decision. He thinks it is outrageous that U.S. taxpayers should be paying to create jobs in foreign countries. It is bad enough...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India. "We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

The inspector general of the Government Printing Office today said his office is conducting an "end-to-end" review of the agency's production of electronic passports. GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden said the review is part of the office's work plan and will look at the outsourcing of some passport components, such as computer chips embedded in travel documents. The comments follow a report in today's editions of The Washington Times quoting congressional and GPO officials who raised security questions about the use of foreign contractors in the process.

Microsoft today praised a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress that would double the number of immigrant worker visas available each year under the H-1B program. The Innovation Employment Act, introduced by Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, late Thursday, would increase the cap in H-1B visas from 65,000 a year to 130,000 a year. In addition, there would be no cap on H-1B applications for foreign graduate students attending U.S. colleges and studying science, technology and related fields. Currently, there's a 20,000-a-year cap on visas for graduate students in all fields. The legislation would increase the H-1B cap to...

SAN JOSE, CA (TDR) - Hundreds of angry programmers took to the streets burning Indian flags, and chanting anti-Indian slogans after Wednesday morning production meetings. The protesters - mostly young males - have reached a boiling point after years of technological imperialism and failed Indian programming policies. Busy midday traffic came to a halt as this once proud high-tech mecca was transformed into raging, socially-challenged powder keg of humanity...

The Air Force Tanker Deal By Thomas Lifson The next generation of Air Force in-flight filling stations is slated to ride on the wings of an airplane designed in France. A consortium of Northrop-Grumman and Airbus beat Boeing for the contract to supply the next generation of Air Force tankers. Critics decry a job loss from outsourcing, fret at dependence on foreign suppliers for the capacity to fuel our strategic global reach, and don't want their tax dollars heading toward Europe. But it is worth at least considering the view that the brass are planning a canny game of strategy, looking...

US high-tech companies are being forced to outsource more jobs overseas because of outdated restrictions on immigration, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told Congress Wednesday. Gates, echoing a longstanding complaint from the technology sector, told a congressional panel that the US immigration system "makes attracting and retaining high-skilled immigrants exceptionally challenging for US firms." "Congress's failure to pass high-skilled immigration reform has exacerbated an already grave situation," Gates said in remarks prepared for delivery to a hearing of the House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee. "As a result, many US firms, including Microsoft, have been forced to locate staff in...

Tomorrow night, a European spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from French Guiana on its maiden voyage to the international space station, giving NASA and the world a new way to reach the orbiting laboratory. For NASA, however, the launch of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) also highlights a stark reality: In 2 1/2 years, just as the station gets fully assembled, the United States will no longer have any spacecraft of its own capable of carrying astronauts and cargo to the station, in which roughly $100 billion is being invested. The three space shuttles will be retired...

Sent today to Honeywell employees Dear Aerospace Colleague, The ability to deliver high quality products, on-time, and at a competitive cost is vital to meet customer expectations and position Honeywell Aerospace for growth. As announced in employee meetings earlier today, Honeywell has approved a plan to transition most of the Avionics Integrated Supply Chain activities, including computers, platforms, E/M, displays and RF, to a new Honeywell facility in Penang Malaysia. Remaining in Deer Valley will be sensors, Air Data, and the MD 10/11 Computer Line. Select products will also be transitioned from Olathe, KS to Bintan, Indonesia and Penang, Malaysia....

ZHANGQIU COUNTY, China (Reuters) - When Yuan Shanchun became China's first farmer to receive a government subsidy to buy a refrigerator, he was inundated with queries from just about everyone he knew asking how they could get one too. "Who can believe it? How come the government is giving us money to buy things?" the bubbly 51-year-old asked, speaking in the thick accent of the eastern province of Shandong. "This is like free food falling from the sky!"

IBM is not feeling the impact yet of reduced growth in IT budgets, and plans to continue hiring global services delivery staff in India by the thousands. IBM plans to continue hiring global services delivery staff in India by the thousands, adding to the 73,000 it already has in its global services and other operations in the country. A large number of Indian outsourcers and multinational services companies have set up services delivery operations from India. Their competition for the best staff is driving up salaries. Companies are however introducing quality systems that enable them to weed out low performers....

In the race to find the next billion-dollar drug, some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies are starting in China. For the past three years industry giants such as Pfizer and Merck have quietly dished out early-stage research projects to scientists working in the whitewashed buildings of WuXi PharmaTech, China's largest drug R&D company. "We have a cost advantage and access to other resources, such as research animals, and a very good infrastructure. All of these things make us competitive," says Hai Mi, head of WuXi's investor relations.

Should we worry that the people of China, India and other undeveloped countries are getting richer? Apparently so, according to the newspapers and the "experts" they quote. They don't come right out and say that global prosperity is bad for us. Instead they say, as The New York Times recently said, "As development rolls across once-destitute countries at a breakneck pace, lifting billions out of poverty, demand for food, metals and fuel is red-hot, and suppliers are struggling to meet it. Prices are spiraling, and Americans find themselves in what amounts to a bidding war with overseas buyers for products...

Countering the rancour in the West against outsourcing of jobs, the chairman of IT major Wipro [Get Quote] has said India was not stealing their jobs and its businesses were moving into developed countries, which did not have enough skilled graduates to compete in the global economy. "What is of concern is how serious a shortage of technical talent is building up in the western world. Global companies are going to where not enough young boys and girls are getting into math, science and engineering. That trend is not being reversed," Azim Premji said. Premji said that as Wipro expands...

Insulting British callers make operators sick By Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi Last Updated: 1:43am GMT 06/01/2008 British callers may be infuriated when they discover that the company they are telephoning has moved its customer service centre to India. But their frustration is as nothing compared with the heart attacks, ulcers and insomnia afflicting those on the other end of the line. Staff in call centres say they have been shocked at the ferocity of the verbal attacks they encounter Research carried out by India's booming call centre industry has found the 1.6 million people who work in them, mostly...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid new worries about a possible recession, the housing slump and rising oil prices, President Bush is exploring an economic stimulus package to reinforce the U.S. economy. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday that Bush is closely monitoring economic trends and is seeking input from his economic advisers on the pros and cons of such a package. "The president has indicated that he will not make up his mind as to whether or not to lay out a package until the State of the Union," Perino said about the president's speech on Jan. 28. "Our...

LONDON (AFP) — Oil prices leapt back into triple figures on Thursday, striking a record high of 100.05 dollars in New York on worries about tight supplies and US currency weakness. The double effect of surging oil prices and the weakening US dollar pushed gold to its own record. The precious metal struck an historic peak of 867.90 dollars an ounce. Gold is seen as a defence against inflation, driven in many countries by the surging cost of crude oil. "Investors are worried about the oil prices and the weak dollar," said Gary Yue, a dealer at Delta Asia Financial...

ANAND, India - Every night in this quiet western Indian city, 15 pregnant women prepare for sleep in the spacious house they share, ascending the stairs in a procession of ballooned bellies, to bedrooms that become a landscape of soft hills. A team of maids, cooks and doctors looks after the women, whose pregnancies would be unusual anywhere else but are common here. The young mothers of Anand, a place famous for its milk, are pregnant with the children of infertile couples from around the world. The small clinic at Kaival Hospital matches infertile couples with local women, cares for...

.S. News & World Report, which has made a name for itself by ranking and announcing the best colleges every year, is now ranking and listing the best careers for young people. A comparison of the latest lists shows a shocking disconnect and makes for dispiriting holiday reading. While the price of a college education has skyrocketed far faster than inflation, many careers for which colleges prepare their graduates are disappearing. U.S. News' Best Careers guide concludes, "college grads might want to consider blue-collar careers" because bachelor's degree holders "are having trouble finding jobs that require college-graduate skills." Incredibly, U.S....

New York, NY (AHN) - The Boeing Company announced on Thursday that it has signed a $1 billion agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of India as a part of manufacturing outsourcing contract. According to the 10-year pact, HAL will manufacture sub-systems of Boeing's fighter planes including F-18 Super Hornets and Apache Helicopters. Initially, Boeing will invest around $20 million annually to increase its manufacturing unit size and complexity along with business opportunities in the sub-continent. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Jim Albaugh, President of Boeing Integrated Defense System and Chairman Ashok K Baweja, the Indian defense...

December 21, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Five years ago, some unemployed IT workers in Connecticut formed an advocacy group to fight against the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The group's strategy was old-fashioned for the Internet Age, relying on face-to-face lobbying to reach out to federal lawmakers. And the group, called The Organization for the Rights of American Workers (TORAW), was successful in getting visa-reform legislation introduced in Congress. But now TORAW is disbanding, according to John Bauman, president of the Meriden, Conn.-based group. Bauman said this week that he has made 16 trips to Washington this year and met with...

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<p>HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said Friday it is looking to outsource as much as 30% of its manufacturing, much of it to Asia.</p> <p>Pfizer, based in New York City, now outsources about 15% of its manufacturing capabilities. The company aims to double that figure, as part of cost-cutting measures, it said at an investor presentation in Hong Kong, which was broadcast over the Internet.</p>

US industrial conglomerate Honeywell has announced that it will move the headquarters of its electronic materials business from the United States to Shanghai to better position itself for further growth in Asia. The company also announced that Shanghai UOP Ltd, the largest molecular sieve adsorbents manufacturing plant in Asia, has completed an expansion to boost capacity to meet growing demand in China. Shanghai UOP is a subsidiary company of Honeywell China. "The relocation of the electronic materials' global headquarters to Shanghai will further underline Honeywell's emphasis on China as an important platform to drive Honeywell's globalization," Honeywell China's CEO Shane...