The U.S. government’s easing of travel warnings...

The U.S. government’s easing of travel warnings for China will bring back more foreign business to Beijing but is not expected to revive tourism this year or reverse an exodus of foreigners, experts say.

Foreign investment, trade and tourism are likely to sag for the rest of the year because of domestic Chinese economic problems and continued anxiety over the prolonged martial law and political instability in Beijing.

Most Western and many Asian business executives fled after the Chinese army moved into Beijing June 3. Many have returned, some to assess the climate and others without their families.

The State Department last week modified a blanket advisory against travel to China in effect since early June, saying it now recommended against “non-essential travel.”

The number of industrial robots is doubling every year and there will be around 10 million of them by the turn of the century, the International Labor Organization says.

Japan has the most robots, with 141,000, followed by the United States with 29,000, the organization said in a report on the need for strict safety standards for what it called “steel-collar workers.”

The Asian Development Bank has approved $121 million in loans and technical assistance grants to Indonesia and Nepal for road and urban development projects.

The Manila-based bank said almost all of the amount is included in a $120-million loan to Indonesia to finance a road improvement project. The bank also approved a $470,000 technical assistance grant for the same project.

The $600,000 technical assistance grant to Nepal will finance a study for the urban development of Katmandu Valley, the nation’s economic, cultural and political center.