■ Electronics
Sharp to offer biggest TVs
Sharp Corp, Japan's No.1 maker of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), will start selling the world's biggest LCD televisions next year to tap growing demand for flat-panel models measuring 45 inches or more. The maker of Aquos-brand liquid-crystal display TVs will sell a 65-inch model and another one measuring at least 50 inches the next business year, Takashi Okuda, a managing director for the Osaka-based company, told reporters at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, or CEATEC Japan, held near Tokyo. Demand for LCD televisions helped boost Sharp's net income 40 percent during the six months ended Sept. 30. The company started selling a 45-inch TV in August costing the equivalent of about US$9,000, said Mamoru Wakamatsu, a company spokesman. "We found that after we started selling the 45-inch model our customers said in surveys they wanted even bigger LCD televisions," said Wakamatsu. The company had about 1,500 orders for the 45-inch LCD model between June, when it was announced, and Aug. 1, when it reached stores, Wakamatsu said.
■ Credit cards
Visa, MasterCard lose case
The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld a ruling that the Visa and MasterCard credit card groups had engaged in anti-competitive practices by banning member banks from issuing credit cards through rival providers owned by American Express and Morgan Stanley. Visa and MasterCard had appealed lower court findings which found their practices were anti-competitive. "The petition was denied," a Supreme Court spokes-woman said, referring to Visa and MasterCard's appeals. The court's justices rejected the appeal without comment. A federal judge in New York had originally ruled against Visa and MasterCard in determining that their card issuing practices prevented member banks from issuing competing credit cards through other networks.
■ Retailing
Wal-Mart to grow globally
Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to open 155 to 165 new stores internationally next year, including 30 current stores that will be either relocated or expanded as the world's largest retailer continues an aggressive expansion plan. In the US, the company will open or expand 40 to 45 discount stores and 240 to 250 "supercenters," the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said on Monday. The expansion plan starts at the beginning of the company's next fiscal year on Feb. 1. It will result in about 5 million m2 of new retail space, an 8 percent increase above its estimates for the end of this fiscal year, Wal-Mart president and chief executive Lee Scott said.
■ Brewing
Boosted beer unveiled
In an effort to revive flattening sales and attract new drinkers, Anheuser-Busch is unveiling a new concoction -- a fruity-smelling beer, spiked with caffeine, guarana and ginseng. The world's largest brewer said on Monday its planned offering -- a mathematical-looking formula pronounced "B-to-the-E," with the "E" denoting something "extra" and shown as an exponent of "B" -- should appeal to 20-something consumers looking for something zippy in their lifestyles. The St. Louis-based brewer said the new "beer" -- pending governmental approval -- should debut next month.
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