■ Telecommuncations
Internet provider complains
Softbank Corp, Japan's second largest provider of high-speed Internet access, yesterday sent an e-mail to 5.16 million customers urging them to complain to the country's telecommunications ministry about limited access to the company's new phone service. Japan's Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications decided on Aug. 6 to allocate the 800MHz band only to NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI Corp, the nation's two biggest mobile phone operators, as a frequency for cellphone services, excluding rivals. "If we are able to enter the new cellular phone service, phone rates will surely decrease," Softbank said yesterday in an Internet message to its users. "If there's more competition, the rates will surely decline to a level that can't be compared with the current price."
■ Labor
Japan opens job market
In a rare opening of its labor market to foreigners, Japan plans to accept up to 200 Philippine nurses and caregivers for the elderly if they pass national qualifying examinations here, a report said yesterday. Liberalization of labor markets is a focal point in Japan's negotiations with the Philippines on concluding a free trade agreement (FTA). A draft plan by the Japanese health and labor ministry envisages giving selected Philippine nurses and caregivers education in Japanese language and culture in their home country for up to one year, the Mainichi Shimbun said. They would then be invited to Japan for on-the-job training and study for Japan's national examinations to obtain formal licenses.
■ Medicine
`Medical tourists' welcomed
Some 270,000 "medical tourists" are expected to spend S$500 million (US$294 million) this year as Singapore actively promotes its medical care in the region, the Sunday Times reported. No figures for last year were available but the Singapore Tourism Board, one of the key supporters behind the drive, said 210,000 visitors arrived in 2002 for medical treatment and spent a total of S$420 million. Singapore, which has one of Asia's best health care systems, is promoting medical tourism among affluent Asians as well as expatriates working in the region. The campaign involves not only hospitals but also the Singapore Tourism Board, International Enterprise Singapore and the Economic Development Board.
■ Economy
Confidence rises in S Korea
South Korean business confidence rose for the first time in four months in August because of rising exports and expectations of a recovery in consumer spending ahead of the Thanksgiving Chusok holidays later this month. The business confidence index, a gauge of how companies perceive the business environment in the coming month, was 95.5 points, higher than 86.4 in July, according to a Federation of Korean Industries survey of the nation's largest companies. A reading below 100 indicates most respondents are still pessimistic about the economy. "Although exports are increasing, there are still concerns that weak corporate investment, high inflation and oil prices may continue to hinder the economy's recovery," the federation said in a statement. Weak business confidence suggests companies are becoming less inclined to expand.
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)