■ Auto Industry
Honda may sue China rivals
Honda Motor Co, the first Japanese carmaker to open a plant in China, said it may sue nine Chinese automakers for copying the design of its CR-V sport-utility vehicle. Honda, which has sued two Chinese carmakers since November last year, found there are nine other companies that either make or plan to produce models that look like the Honda CR-V, spokeswoman Sachi Ito said today. The cases are the latest in a series of disputes between overseas automakers and local companies accused of copying of designs and logos. Toyota Motor Corp, Asia's largest carmaker, lost a lawsuit against Geely Group Co in November last year over the Chinese company's use of a logo resembling the Japanese carmaker's badge.
■ Hotels
Las Vegas Sands to expand
US gaming company Las Vegas Sands Inc said it wants to build six more hotels, including some with casinos, in an area of the southern Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macau casino in May and is building the Macau Venetian Casino Resort on the territory's reclaimed Cotai area, which the company has touted as the "Las Vegas Strip of Asia." Now the gaming operator has submitted a proposal to Macau's government to build six more hotel resorts in Cotai, some of which will have casinos, Las Vegas Sands said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted on Wednesday. The company is seeking partners to finance and build the hotels and will only operate the casinos through subsidiaries, the filing said.
■ Advertising
Nike apologizes for ad
Nike has apologized for a footwear ad featuring an attack on a kung fu master which was banned by China, saying it only intended to emulate the Hong Kong martial arts movie heroes of the 1970s. China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on Monday ordered stations nationwide to stop broadcasts of Nike's "LeBron James in Chamber of Fear" ads that it said had sparked anger and claims of offending "national feelings." In the advertisement, James, 19, a forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, makes easy work of animated enemies including a white-haired kung fu master, two women in traditional Chinese garb and the pair of dragons as he ascends the video game-like levels of the "Chamber."
■ DVD Formats
Disney chooses Blue-ray
Hollywood movie powerhouse Walt Disney has taken sides with Japan's Sony Corp in a bitter battle between studios to define a technical standard for next generation DVDs, it said on Wednesday. The house that made Mickey Mouse and its home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) announced they would adopt Sony's Blu-ray disc format, putting Disney at odds with an array of studios supporting rival Toshiba technology. Under the tie-up with Sony for the next generation of video disc players, Disney and BVHE will release their movies non-exclusively in the Blu-ray format when it launches in North America and Japan late next year. Last month Warner Bros, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema took positions in the fight, opting to endorse the HD DVD format touted by Sony rival Toshiba. The two standards are not compatible and will require consumers to choose between one system or another when buying the next generation of DVD players.
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)