■ Software
Microsoft eyes India
A Microsoft Corp executive said that moving some software development work to India would help the company save money and accomplish more, according to a presentation obtained by a Washington state union. Moving some work to India could "leverage the Indian economy's lower cost structure," according to slides from a July presentation by Senior Vice President Brian Valentine of the Windows operating system group. The slides were posted on the Web site of the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers. Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake confirmed their authenticity. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, which is investing US$400 million in India over three years, plans to hire 5,000 workers by June 30 to add to the more than 50,000 it had at the start of its fiscal year in July.
■ Economics
Germany stagnates
Germany's economy stagnated in the fourth quarter as unemployment at a 4-and-a-half-year high sapped consumer confidence and the government cut spending. GDP was unchanged in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, the Federal Statistics Office said. Economists had expected a contraction of 0.1 percent. The economy expanded 0.5 percent from the year-ago period. Europe's largest economy, which last year grew at its slowest pace in almost a decade, has barely expanded since a recession in the second half of 2001. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's popularity is waning as companies from truck maker MAN AG to Deutsche Bank AG eliminate jobs. "The consumer will be a brake on the economy" this year, said David Kohl, an economist at Bank Julius Baer in Frankfurt.
■ Wireless
Qualcomm to reduce stake
Qualcomm Inc, whose patents are the basis for cellphones used by about 140 million people, said its investment in wireless operators will slow because a surge in users will only come at the end of next year. The San Diego-based company, which develops technology for the use of high-speed mobile data services such as downloading video on cellphones, said it hasn't decided how much it will spend on these investments this year. "The amount of money we invest in operators would decline over time, but we are opportunistic and there are always special opportunities that come along that we'd consider," Jeff Jacobs, Qualcomm's president of global development, said in an interview in Singapore.
■ Biotech
GM corn approved
A new corn genetically designed to resist rootworm can go onto the market, the Environmental Protection Agency announced. "This new variety of corn pest control holds great promise for reducing reliance on conventional insecticides now used on millions of acres of corn in the US" Stephen Johnson, an assistant administrator at the EPA, said Tuesday. Monsanto, a St. Louis biotech company, designed the corn variety so it would produce its own insecticide to fend off rootworm, a pest whose larvae feed off the plant's roots. The plant's pesticide is derived from a protein contained in a natural soil bacterium called Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis. Farmers have had to depend on chemical insecticides and alternating soybean and corn crops every other year to control rootworm.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)