■Macroeconomics
EU ministers reaffirm plans
The finance ministers of Britain, France and Germany, in a commentary published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, said they are committed to take the EU to the next stage during the upcoming EU summit in Greece. "We, the finance ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, are all committed to reform our economies to deliver on the ambitious objectives we set at Lisbon three years ago," the ministers said. The joint Op-Ed was signed by the finance ministers of France and Germany, Francis Mer and Hans Eichel, and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. They said they would "give priority to growth, to reform our labor markets to create more and better jobs, and to reform our pension and health-care systems to keep the public finances on a sustainable footing."
■ Banking
China opens to foreigners
China's banking watchdog said yesterday it plans to issue long-awaited regulations on auto financing, possibly opening up the business to foreign companies. The rules are among the priority tasks for the newly-established China Banking Regulatory Commission, the com-mission said on its Web site, without giving a timetable. China was supposed to open auto financing to foreigners immediately after it became a WTO member on December 11, 2001, but 18 months later foreign companies are still waiting. Auto giants such as General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG are among the companies expected to start offering car loans once the rules are in place. Chinese authorities have allowed a series of local banks to engage in auto financing in recent months, giving them a head-start over foreign competitors.
■ IT
India pays for e-governance
India's federal and state governments are contri-buting heavily to information technology spending in the country thanks to their new found zeal for e-governance, international research and consultancy firm Gartner says. In a report on India's e-governance released earlier this week, Gartner said the government was the only recession-proof segment of society that will continue to spend on technology even during a downtrend. The government's spending on technology accounts for 9 percent of information technology spending in India, the report said. Last year, the Indian government spent a little over US$1 billion on e-governance initiatives. In the five years that the govern-ment has been providing services through the Internet, 12 of India's 29 states have announced their information technology policy, the report said.
■ Scandals
Firm wants receivership
Shanghai Merchants Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed firm controlled by embattled Chinese tycoon Zhou Zhengyi, has applied for receivership, state press reported Wednesday. The move comes 10 days after similar action by sister company Shanghai Land. Shanghai Merchants, in which Zhou holds a 74.3 percent stake, Tuesday issued a notice announcing it would apply for receivership from the Superior Court in Hong Kong in a bid to preserve the company's assets and maintain operations, the China Securities Journal reported. Shanghai Merchants, chaired by Zhou's wife Mo Yuk-ping, stated in the public notice that its board of directors made the decision on June 14.
Agencies
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)