■ Cameras
Digital sales set to rise
Asia Optical Co Inc, Eastman Kodak Co and Nokia Corp are among the companies that some analysts say will benefit from a rise in digital camera purchases even as competition squeezes profit, Barron's reported. Digital camera sales in the US are expected to surpass conventional cameras for the first time next year, selling 52 million units compared with 40 million, according to research firm iSuppli, Barron's reported. Camera prices will decline to US$250 on average next year from US$290 this year, iSuppli said. Asia Optical of Taiwan is one of several companies, including Premier Image Technology Corp, that is likely to get more business as bigger name makers such as Nikon Corp outsource manufacturing to reduce costs, Steve Werber, who runs the Seligman Global Technology fund, told Barron's.
■ Tariffs
Japan mulls retaliation
Japan may boost tariffs on coal, chemicals, steel, textiles and electrical machinery imported from the US after Washington imposed tariffs on steel imports in March last year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. Japan's tariffs may cost US exporters about ?10 billion (US$92.3 million) a year, the report said, without saying where it obtained the information. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry intends to inform the WTO by the end of this month about the planned increase in duties unless the US ends its import restrictions, the report said.
■ Hong Kong
Habour Fest overspent
Hong Kong will have to pay the full HK$100 million (US$13 million) set aside for the Harbour Fest series of music concerts after ticket sales and sponsorships failed to meet targets, the South China Morning Post reported. The cost of holding the concerts from Oct. 17 to Nov. 9 was HK$152.9 million, about HK$36 million more than budgeted, the report said, citing preliminary figures given by the government. Hong Kong lawmakers yesterday criticized the government and the American Chamber of Commerce, the event organizer, for overspending on the event, the report said.
■ Supermarkets
Japanese hiring part-timers
Aeon Co, Ito-Yokado Co and other supermarket operators are hiring more part-time employees to reduce costs, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing where it obtained the information. As of the end of August, there were 220,000 part-time workers at 14 large supermarkets, or almost three-fourths of their total work force, the report said. The figure is 31,000 more than in February 2001, when the percentage of part-timers stood at 69 percent, the paper said.
■ Trade
Mexico to talk to Mercosur
Mexican President Vicente Fox said his country is set to begin trade talks with members of Mercosur to reach an agreement with the South American trade bloc. "We're in agreement to begin negotiating, holding dialogue and advancing on this Mercosur-Mexico accord," Fox said in a transcribed version of a press conference in Bolivia. "Certainly, we will soon have it." The Mercosur comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Fox signed a trade agreement between Mexico and Uruguay yesterday during the 13th Iberoamerican Summit in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
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)
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