■ Business law
EU to hear GE appeals
Appeals against the European Commission's rejection of General Electric's acquisition of Honeywell in 2001 are expected to be heard in late May, said Louise Binns, a spokeswoman at GE. The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg has proposed that Honeywell's appeal be heard on May 25 and GE's appeal will be heard two days later. The commission blocked the deal, valued at US$45 billion at the time, because it believed it would harm competition in the market for aircraft parts. GE and Honeywell abandoned the deal, but GE is pursuing the appeal to overturn the commission's ruling in case it pursues another merger.
■ Airlines
Mandarin, EVA lauded
Mandarin Airlines (華信) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮) were lauded Friday by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) as the top Taiwan-based carriers serving domestic and international routes last year, respectively. According to the results of a survey carried out by the CAA, Mandarin and EVA were given the honor as Taiwan's best airlines, with both scoring a grade much better than 70 points because of their good performance mainly in flight security and passenger service. The two aviation companies will be rewarded with a gold trophy by the CAA.
■ Trade
Zoellick criticizes Taiwan
Taiwan must keep the promises it made under the WTO before the US will even consider negotiating with Taiwan on the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA), US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Friday. Zoellick made the remarks when he testified at the House Ways and Means Committee on US FTA negotiations. Congressman Wally Herger posed a question on opening foreign markets such as South Korea and Taiwan to US agricultural products and asked if the US has considered negotiating with these countries. Zoellick noted that the US has continued to talk with Taiwan about implementing the promises it made upon joining the WTO in January 2002. In addition, the US still has views about Taiwan's opening of its rice and telecommunication markets and about intellectual property rights protection.
■ Executives
Legendary grocery man dies
Grant Gentry, an executive who built a reputation for reviving failing supermarket companies, including the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co (A&P) and Food Fair, died March 4 at a hospital in Newport Beach, California. He was 79. Gentry was recruited by Food Fair in 1979 to serve as president and chief executive. At the time, the company was one of the largest retailers to seek bankruptcy protection. With his conservative business practices and attention to detail, Gentry led the company out of bankruptcy protection after two years. Gentry came from humble beginnings and spent much of his youth in foster homes and orphanages. After graduating from high school in Chicago, Gentry joined the Army and volunteered to serve in a paratroopers' unit. During World War II, he was part of a 1945 rescue mission at Los Banos prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines.
■ Transport
Taipei's vehicles increase
The total number of vehicles registered in Taipei as of the end of January were up to a record high of 1,696,000, according to statistics released yesterday by the Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. According to the statistics, 267 cars and 379 motorcycles were owned per 1,000 head of population. Chungshan, Sungshan and Chungcheng districts had the most car owners, while Wanhua had the least. Datong and Wanhua districts, however, had the highest number of motorcycle owners, with Ta-an district having the fewest.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last