■ Engineering
Siemens fills Chinese plant
German engineering conglomerate Siemens plans to relocate up to 600 jobs at its fixed telecom networks factory in southern Germany to China, a company spokeswoman said on Friday. "Negotiations are underway" with employee representatives at group's factory in Bruchsal in south west Germany, the spokes-woman said, adding that "up to 600 jobs" from a total 1,400 at the factory would be affected. The plant makes digital subscriber line (DSL) modems which "could be built where cost conditions are more favorable," the spokeswoman said. "We're considering a relocation to China." Siemens already said in mid-December that it hoped to benefit from the eastwards expansion of the EU to relocate up to 10,000 jobs to countries where labour costs were lower.
■ Telecoms
Ericsson is optimistic
Swedish telecommunica-tions equipment giant Ericsson said yesterday that the worst is over for the global mobile market, which could even see a modest resumption of growth this year. Presenting last year's results, Ericsson reported a return to profit in the fourth quarter, after ten quarters of deficits at the net level, but remained in loss for the full year. "We believe that the market has stabilized and our view is that the global mobile systems market in 2004, measured in US dollars, will be in line with, or show slight growth, compared to 2003," chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said. During its painful period of readjust-ment since 2000, Ericsson's workforce halved from over 100,000 to 51,600 by the end of last year, and further bloodletting is to take its payroll to 47,000 this year.
■ Transportation
Maglev has few passengers
Low use of the Shanghai high-speed magnetic-levitation transport system is leaving the Transrapid practically empty as it shuttles between the airport and an underground stop at the outskirts of the city. "We are not lucky with ticket sales," Fang Haiqing, vice director of the Chinese operating company, said yesterday. There are only 500 to 600 tickets sold each day for the world's first commercial maglev line. Trains depart every 10 minutes and can hold 450 riders. With a top speed of 430kph, the Shanghai trains whisk passengers 30km to the airport in just eight minutes. However, they only run half a day during the week and all day on the weekends. Fang doesn't think the ticket prices, 75 yuan (US$9), are too high, saying that the more money people earn, the more riders the Transrapid system will have.
■ Food
McDonald's gets new head
The Japanese unit of US hamburger chain McDonald's has tapped the head of Apple Computer in Japan as its new chief executive pending shareholder approval. The appointment of Eiko Harada, Apple Japan president since 1997, still needs approval at a company shareholders' meeting next month, Shoji Mizutani, spokesman for McDonald's Holdings Co, said yesterday. Harada is stepping down this month as president of Apple Japan to be replaced on an interim basis by Timothy Cook from Apple Computer in the US, Apple Japan spokesman Takashi Takebayashi said. The Japanese unit, 50 percent owned by McDonald's of the US, has closed unprofitable stores, cut jobs through costly retirement packages and begun a new TV advertising blitz. But menu additions such as the tofu burger have not wooed people back to the Golden Arches.
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)