■ Communications
Standard to be discussed
Japan, South Korea and China have agreed to hold discussions on a choosing a common standard for the next generation of cellphones targeted for commercial release by 2010, a newspaper reported yesterday. The three countries will share technical information and support private-sector research to facilitate the adoption of a common standard for the so-called fourth-generation service, which will relay data at five times the speed of the fastest current handsets, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. China, Japan and South Korea are home to about a third of the world's cellphone users. They hope that unifying standards will give them a head start in a global race to develop the new technology.
■ Displays
Firms set to profit
Makers of liquid-crystal displays, such as Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), are likely to keep benefiting as consumers seek the lighter, thinner televisions incorporating the technology, Barron's reported. Investor enthusiasm may also be stoked by an expected initial public offering for LG Philips Displays, a joint venture between the Netherlands' Royal Philips Electronics NV and South Korea's LG Electronics Co, which is the biggest shipper of large LCD panels, the weekly newspaper said. LG Philips has 23 percent of the large LCD panel market, is also No. 1 in LCD personal computer monitors and televisions, and No. 2 in notebook displays, Barron's said.
■ Employment
Job hunters bare all
Some Chinese women graduates, trying to overcome discriminatory hiring practices, are sending off revealing pictures of themselves to prospective bosses in their desperation to find work, the China Daily said yesterday. "Besides the traditional scenarios of visiting job fairs and mailing out resumes, some female college graduates have started attaching revealing photographs to their resumes," the daily said on its Web site. "Inclusion of an eye-grabbing photo of the student clad in a school uniform, mini-skirt or even a bikini is seen as a way to impress prospective employers and boost the chances of landing a job. The newspaper said it was an "open secret" in China that female college graduates suffer discrimination from employers when applying for jobs.
■ Shipping
Container flow increases
The loading and unloading of containers in 2003 accounted for 12.1 million TEUs, an increase of 4.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. Of the total TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), 8.84 million came from Kaohsiung Harbor, an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year, making up 73.1 percent of the total volume, and ranking sixth in world TEU movement. Keelung Harbor, however, has accounted for two million TEUs this year, an increase of 4.3 percent from the previous year, while Taichung Harbor moved 1.25 million TEUs, a growth of 4.4 percent from 2002. There were 37,976 vessels entering Taiwan harbors in 2003, an increase of 3.3 percent over a year earlier, out of which 18,878 vessels entered Kaohsiung Harbor, a rise of 3.5 percent from the previous year, while 9,119 vessels entering Keelung Harbor, a little small increase of 0.4 percent from the recession year of 2002. Hong Kong was the world's largest mover of TEUs.
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