■ Management
Boeing CEO sacked
Boeing Co's board has ousted Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO because of his relationship with a female company executive, Boeing officials announced yesterday. Board chairman Lew Platt said the ouster came after an investigation by internal and external legal counsel, which found that Stonecipher had violated the company's code of conduct. "The board concluded that the facts reflected poorly on Harry's judgment and would impair his ability to lead the company," Platt said. According to a news release, the board asked for and received Stonecipher's resignation on Sunday and appointed chief financial officer James Bell, 56, as interim president and CEO. Stonecipher will also leave the company's board. The release did not identify the woman, and said only that she did not report directly to Stonecipher.
■ Stock exchanges
Deutsche rescinds LSE offer
German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse AG is withdrawing its preliminary US$2.6 billion offer for the London Stock Exchange, the company said in a press release on Sunday. The company said the LSE wasn't in a position to recommend a deal at a price Deutsche Boerse finds acceptable. Deutsche Boerse had made a preliminary cash offer of £5.3 (US$10.05) per share for the LSE on Jan. 27. But Deutsche Boerse said it may make a new bid for the London bourse "if Euronext or another third party announces an offer for the London Stock Exchange or in such other circumstances as are permitted by the UK Takeover Code." In the statement, company chief executive Werner Seifert said he still believes a merger with the LSE would benefit Deutsche Boerse stakeholders, but added "a significant portion of our shareholder base is focused on return of capital in the short term."
■ Aid
Retain China loans: panel
Japan should avoid setting a date for ending its yen loans to China as it would risk further damaging already chilly ties between the neighbors, an advisory panel said yesterday. Most members on the panel -- made up of academics, officials from non-government organizations and journalists -- are opposed to setting a deadline for ending the loans, which the government is reported to be considering, a panel member told reporters. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told the panel that Japan should review its aid policy in view of China's robust and fast-developing economy, although he gave no details of any plans to stop the assistance, including the loans. Japan has cut low-interest loans to China for three consecutive years.
■ Real estate
Shanghai imposes new tax
Shanghai imposed a 5.55 percent tax on the profit from sales of apartments within the first year of their purchase, to try to thwart real-estate speculation that's blamed for driving up property prices. The tax, which took effect yesterday, comprises a 5 percent capital-gains tax and a 0.55 percent special levy to finance city construction, education and river dredging, the government said in a statement posted on its Web site. The rule applies to sellers of both new and second-hand homes. Shanghai is China's fastest-growing property market, where housing prices jumped 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the government. Lending to the real estate industry last year accounted for three-fourths of new loans.
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
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘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)