Asian Highway Network
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The Asian Highway (AH) project, also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to improve the highway systems in Asia. It is one of the three pillars of the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by the ESCAP commission at its 48th session in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) and facilitation of land transport projects.
Agreements have been signed by 32 countries to allow the highway to cross the continent and also reach to Europe. Some of the countries taking part in the highway project are India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Japan, South Korea and Bangladesh. Most of the funding comes from the larger, more advanced Asian nations like Japan, India and China as well as international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank.
The project aims to make maximum use of the continent's existing highways to avoid the construction of newer ones, except in cases where missing routes necessitate their construction. Project Monitor, an Asian infrastructure news website, has commented that "early beneficiaries of the Asian Highway project are the planners within the national land transport department of the participating countries [since] it assists them in planning the most cost-effective and efficient routes to promote domestic and international trade. Non-coastal areas, which are often negligible, are the other beneficiaries."
Samsung SCH-U740
The Samsung Alias (formerly known as the SCH-u740) was a cell phone made by Samsung. The phone was originally available in a champagne finish then black, with the dialing keys in grey in contrast to black keys. A subsequent relaunch under the "Alias" name was accompanied by the switch to a blue/silver color scheme with the dialing keys half white and half black instead of grey and black. It features a dual-hinge design that can be opened portrait or landscape style. In landscape mode it features a QWERTY keyboard and VCAST music on the Verizon Wireless network within Australia and the USA.
The phone runs on Verizon Wireless's digital and Ev-DO networks. It also is available within Canada on Bell Mobility's network.
The music format is WMA. Its external features are a small postage stamp sized front display, touch sensitive music control buttons and a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash. On the right side there is a speakerphone button and a microSD (Transflash) card slot. On the left, there is a hold button along with an up/down volume button and proprietary charger/data transfer port. Opened in portrait mode, a standard numerical dialing pad along with two soft keys, send and end keys, a camera button, a voice command button, and a circular four-point dial with an OK key in the center are all available. Opened horizontally, the full QWERTY keypad is usable and a simple button press allows switching between the various alphanumeric functions. A pair of stereo speakers are mounted on either side of the 2.2 inch screen. The u740 is compatible with all Verizon services, such as VCAST. It is also equipped with voice recognition, text message dictation, and two flash-based display themes, as well as the standard red Verizon Wireless themes.
