■ China
Investment in Shanghai up
Foreign investors continue pouring money into Shang-hai with contracted invest-ment jumping 39 percent to US$7 billion in the first seven months of the year, state press reported yester-day. The manufacturing sector was most favored by investors, with contracted foreign funds -- an indica-tion of future commitments but not necessarily the actual amount spent -- hitting US$4.34 billion in the period from January to last month, up 43.1 percent year-on-year, the Xinhua news agency reported. The city's service industry drew some US$2.65 billion in foreign investment in the first seven months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 33.5 percent, it said. Shanghai's booming housing attracted US$739 million during the same period. Total invest-ment into the city reached US$70.39 billion by the end of last month.
■ Telecoms
SingTel's credit rating cut
Singapore Telecommuni-cations Ltd had its credit rating lowered by Standard & Poor's on concern that the government's planned sale of its two-thirds stake in the company will hurt its credit profile. The long-term rating of the phone company, the biggest in Southeast Asia, was cut one level to A+, the fifth-highest investment grade, from AA-. The short-term rating was cut to A-1, the second-highest invest-ment grade, from A-1+. Singapore's government in May said it would sell the stake in conjunction with a free trade agreement it signed with the US. The sale, for which no time frame has been announced, would poten-tially remove government support for the company, Standard & Poor's said. Moody's has an A1 rating on SingTel's senior unsecured debt, the fifth-highest investment grade. Fitch rates SingTel's senior unsecured debt A, the sixth-highest. All three credit agencies rate the company's outlook as stable.
■ Telecoms
Verizon, union in talks
Verizon Communications Inc, the biggest US local-telephone company, and unions representing 78,000 employees were to continue contract negotiations yesterday, the Communi-cations Workers of America (CWA) said. "Several major issues have not yet been resolved," the CWA said in an e-mailed statement. Verizon workers will remain on the job during the talks, the union said. Verizon has been in negotiations with the CWA and another union for seven weeks, seeking to avoid a strike that analysts say may disrupt service in 13 states and hurt the company's sales and stock price. The main issues are health-care costs, job security, worker transfers and the unionization of Verizon's mobile-phone unit.
■ France
Alstom gets support
The French government is prepared to step in and aid the ailing energy and transportation manufac-turer Alstom "while respect-ing European regulations," a spokesman at the Finance Ministry said yesterday. The statement came after spec-ulation in the French media that the government would purchase up to 30 percent of Alstom stock to help the company deal with its liquidity crisis. Alstom has said that it was looking to raise some 600 million euros (US$681 million) in capital as part of a plan to keep from shutting down opera-tions. If the govern-ment took over 30 percent of Alstom capital, it would cover half of the needed sum. Alstom employs about 110,000 people around the world, including 75,000 in Europe.
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
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘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)