■Electronics
Fujitsu releases 60GB drive
Fujitsu is about to release its new HandyDrive, a compact hard drive to be priced around US$250. The Japanese hardware manufacturer says that the 2.5 inch drives will offer storage capacities of 30, 40, or 60 gigabytes (GB). By summer, a new version with up to 80 GB of storage capacity will be on the market. HandyDrives are intended to make it easy to transport large amounts of data, or the drives can serve to expand storage space for PCs and laptops. The compact units, measuring 11.5cm by 10cm by 2.5cm and weighing just 200 grams, draw power through the computer's connection port and therefore need no batteries or other source of energy. They can be connected through a USB or a FireWire port, depending on the model.
■ Trade
Jakarta launches network
A new business network will be launched in Jakarta during this week's visit by Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo, his agenda said yesterday. Called Network Indonesia, it is a private sector-led business platform that will be kicked off with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-jakti. Yeo will also attend the official opening of the Indonesian Production Exhibition, which will be officiated by President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said. Yeo will visit the island of Batam to witness the ground-breaking ceremony for the Sumatra Promotion Center. He and the governors of Sumatra will convene an information meeting to discuss economic cooperation, the ministry said.
Agencies
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
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
‘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)