■ Tourism
Thai travel agencies close
At least 10 percent of Thailand's 500 registered travel agencies will be forced from business because the war in Iraq and the outbreak of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have caused a plunge in tourism, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported. Most Thai travel companies have asked employees to take temporary leave, the newspaper reported, citing Manus Pipathananunth, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association. Travel companies remaining in business are shifting their focus to domestic travel as interest in overseas holidays plunges, the paper said. The number of Thais traveling abroad has fallen by as much as 50 percent since the outbreak started last month, said Wisudhi Srisuphan, director general of Thailand's Fiscal Policy Office.
■ Unemployment
High-tech layoffs halved
After the massive shakeout in the high-tech sector, the number of job cuts in the first quarter of this year fell 45 percent from the same period a year ago, according to a survey released Tuesday. Job cuts announced by high-tech firms in the first quarter plunged to 61,032, compared with 110,247 announced in the same quarter a year ago, according to the survey by the consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. The improvement was due to a significant drop in telecommunications job cuts. Employers in this industry announced just 15,862 job cuts so far this year, down 81 percent from the 82,522 announced in the first quarter of 2002, the survey found. The other segments of the technology sector -- electronics, computers and e-commerce -- all experienced increased job cuts.
■ Outlook
War, SARS causing concern
Japan's central bank warned yesterday that the war in Iraq and the spread of a flu-like virus are clouding the outlook for world economic growth but left its overall assessment of Japan's troubled economy unchanged for the sixth straight month. In its monthly report for April, the Bank of Japan acknowledged that economic activity remained flat. But it was more upbeat about business investment and said private capital spending is starting to recover. Worries are growing that the war in Iraq combined with the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, may worsen prospects for the world economy, it said. The report looks at various economic factors but also gives an overall assessment.
■ Economic growth
Survey revises US forecast
Economists sliced their forecasts for 2003 US economic growth for the third straight month as manufacturing weakened and employers fired more workers, the latest Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey found. The economy will probably expand 2.4 percent this year, down from last month's forecast of a 2.6 percent increase in gross domestic product, according to the average of forecasts by 53 economists in the April Blue Chip survey. That would match growth in 2002. Personal consumption spending is expected to rise 2.3 percent, the slowest growth in a dozen years and less than forecast last month. Companies are waiting until the war with Iraq ends to rebuild inventories and boost hiring, the report said, and "nonexistent" job growth is holding back consumer spending. The US economy lost 108,000 jobs in March, the fourth month in five of declining payrolls.
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)