■ China
Bankruptcy rules changing
Beijing will close 2,000 money-losing state com-panies and phase out special bankruptcy rules that allowed laid-off workers to be paid before creditors, state media reported yesterday. The shutdowns, expected over the next three to five years, will be the last in China's drive to streamline its state-run sector, and the last time it invokes its policy of giving workers priority when disbursing funds from the sale of assets, newspapers and the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The announcement comes as China's legislature prepares to review a draft law on corporate bankruptcy that would remove differences in treatment for state-owned, private and foreign-invested companies. That law would ensure that all 8 million companies in the country follow standard international practice of using recovered funds to first pay back creditors, the reports said.
■ Economy
Rising oil prices cause risk
Sharp increases in oil prices in recent months pose a risk, although a manageable one, for Asian economies as long as governments use the right policies, the Asian Development Bank said yesterday. "Asia remains particularly vulnerable to an oil shock because of its high dependence on oil imports," said the report by bank economist Park Cyn-young. Asia produces 10 percent of world crude supply but consumes 24 percent, with consumption in China and India rising, adding to the pressure on prices. Asia's increased appetite for oil "is not a temporary phenome-non," it said. It said GDP of 10 Asian nations would suffer a 0.1 percentage point reduction this year and a 0.5 to 0.6 percentage point reduction next year if oil prices remain at about US$40 a barrel. Inflation would also be higher in many of these countries particularly India, Indo-nesia, Malaysia, the Philip-pines, Singapore and Thailand.
■ Automobiles
BMW adapts to iPod
Apple Computer and BMW Group on Monday intro-duced an adapter that allows iPod and BMW customers to plug their music collections directly into their car sound sys-tems. The two companies worked for a year to jointly develop the system that will work in BMW's newer model 3 Series, Z4 Roadster, X3 and X5 sports utility vehicles and the Mini Cooper. Apple chief execu-tive Steve Jobs called the product a groundbreaking move -- one he hopes will lead to more integrated products between the auto industry and Apple's hot-selling iPod portable music player. Owners of iPods usually resort to third-party products to use their iPods in their cars. The BMW iPod Adapter will be available starting July 12 for 2002 to 2004 models. The Mini Cooper iPod adapters will be available later.
■ Telecoms
French, Motorola ink pact
France Telecom and US equipment maker Motorola have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop and deploy inte-grated wireless services, they said in a statement on Monday. The companies will set up joint research and development teams, share research funding and intel-lectual property resulting from the collaboration."This collaboration aims at devel-oping and deploying new and innovative, integrated services, using a wide range of wireless access networks and technologies, for the home, office, car and on the move," the statement said.
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