Daily News Briefs

Agilent Technologies Inc. is opening a center in Shanghai to train scientists from the Asia-Pacific region in measurement technologies used in food safety, environmental testing, petrochemical testing, pharmaceutical testing and life sciences. The center is next to Agilent's Shanghai R&D and manufacturing center, which opened in 2002. It will serve scientists in the industrial, government and academic sectors from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Approximately 500 people will be trained in the first year by scientists from China and overseas. Agilent said training will help scientists advance basic research and drug discovery, quality control and other test and measurement capabilities. The company has two similar training facilities in the US and Germany. . . . Flir Systems Inc., a Portland, Ore., maker of infrared imaging systems, announced that retired US Army General William Wright Crouch has been elected to its board for a term expiring at its 2006 annual meeting. Gen. Crouch's military career spans 36 years; most recently, he was the Army's 27th vice chief of staff and COO. . . . L-3 Communications announced that its Security and Detection Systems subsidiary was selected by China's Forbidden City, the world's largest palace complex, to supply its PX-M x-ray screening system. The contract calls for the immediate delivery and installation of three PX-M units, with others to follow in the near future. The Forbidden City, at the center of Beijing directly across from Tiananmen Square, was the Imperial Palace during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is now known as the Palace Museum. It is the world's largest palace complex, covering 720,000 square meters and housing 9999 buildings. More than seven million tourists and Chinese citizens visit the Fcomplex every year.