■ Management
Best managers listed
Craig Barrett, chief executive officer of Intel Corp, the world's biggest computer-processor maker, was named one of the best business managers this year, Business Week reported in its "Top Managers of 2003" list. Some of the best executives, such as James McNerney at 3M Co, Orin Smith at Starbucks Corp, and Burberry Group Plc's Rose Marie Bravo, worked to instill financial discipline at companies that grew even as rivals faltered, the magazine said. Business Week named California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ann Fudge, head of WPP Group Plc's Young & Rubicam Inc advertising agency, Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Lee Scott and John Eyler of Toys "R" Us, among managers to watch this year.
■ Trade
China cuts tariffs
China yesterday started to slash its average import tariff rate to 10.4 percent from 11 percent in accordance with its concessions to enter WTO, state media said. The announcement was made after the planned tariff cuts were agreed to by the State Council, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. In the course of last year, China reduced its average import tariff rate from 12 percent to the present level. The previous year marked a steeper cut from a 15.3 percent average import tariff rate. The tariff cuts announced yesterday mean China has nearly completed the lowering of tariffs that was part of the requirements for entering the WTO. China joined the WTO as its 143rd member in December 2001, promising to cut average import tariffs to 9.8 percent by 2010.
■ Credit Card
Debt at record high
Credit card rollover balances have reached a historic high while the number of cards in Singapore has also hit a new peak, official statistics showed on yesterday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the rollover balances, the amount not paid off by customers in full at the end of each month, hit S$2.6 billion (US$1.5 billion) at the end of November last year. It was a significant surge from the S$2.4 billion (US$1.41 billion) level for the corresponding period in 2002. The earlier record of S$2.5 billion came in February of 2003. The total number of credit cards rose to a new high of 2.45 million main cards and 947,239 supplementary cards. Industry sources attributed the higher level of rollover balances to pay cuts and job losses stemming from the slowing economy.
■ Petroleum
India approves privatization
India said on Wednesday it had appointed bankers to manage the proposed offers of 10 percent stakes in state-run exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) and natural gas supplier Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL). "The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment met and gave an in-principle approval to sell 10 percent equity in GAIL and ONGC," said the privatization ministry. "The issues are being targeted within this financial year to March 2004." Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd, DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd and Morgan Stanley Private Ltd have been selected to manage the proposed public offer of up to 10 percent in highly profitable ONGC, said the ministry. Privatization Minister Arun Shourie had earlier told reporters the offers would be made in the domestic market and were likely to net the government around 125 billion rupees (US$2.66 billion) at current prices.
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)