■ Digital Formats
New Xbox may use HD DVD
Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates said the company's new Xbox 360 video-game console may use the next-generation DVD format developed by Toshiba Corp. Microsoft is a member of the DVD Forum, a group that promotes the HD DVD technology Toshiba helped develop as a standard for the new DVDs that can store more high-definition pictures and other content than existing DVDs. Sony Corp backs the competing Blu-ray disc format. "The initial shipments of Xbox 360 will be based on today's DVD format," Gates said at a media conference in Tokyo yesterday. "We are looking at whether future versions of DVD will incorporate an additional capability of an HD DVD player or something else," he said.
■ China
Vehicle tax mooted
China is considering linking a vehicle tax to exhaust emission levels that could run as high as 15 percent to 20 percent for cars with an engine capacity of over three liters, state press reported yesterday. "Those who buy cars with higher emissions will be taxed more heavily," Feng Fei (馮飛), director of the industry department at the State Council's Development and Research Center, was quoted by the China Daily as saying. Auto producers currently pay between 3 percent and 8 percent in tax before vehicles enter the market, but the tax should be levied directly on car buyers to encourage them to buy vehicles with lower emissions.
■ Malaysia
Electronics sales to grow
Intel Corp, Motorola Inc and rival US electronics makers in Malaysia expect sales this year to grow more than 10 percent, beating an industry estimate, aided by demand for personal computers and mobile phones. Exports by 18 US companies in Malaysia will probably increase 10.3 percent to 82.2 billion ringgit (US$22 billion), according to a survey by the Kuala Lumpur-based American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce. Sales rose 18.4 percent to 74.5 billion ringgit last year. The group said in November sales may expand 5 percent to 10 percent this year and 10.5 percent last year. "Despite oil prices, consumer spending is still resilient, there is growth of mobile and wireless devices," Wong Siew Hai, who heads the chamber's electronics industry group, said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur. "As prices continue to be lowered for mobile devices, more people will buy."
■ Germany
Business confidence grows
German business confidence improved slightly for the first time in five months this month, offering a small spark of hope for the eurozone's biggest economy, a key survey showed yesterday. The widely watched business climate index, calculated each month by the Ifo economic research institute, rose to 93.3 points this month from 92.9 points last month, Ifo said in a statement. The reading was exactly in line with analysts' expectations. "The index has risen slightly after declining in the preceding four months," Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn said. "Companies are not only fractionally more confident about their current business, but are also noticeably more optimistic with regard to the outlook for the next six months," Sinn said. For its monthly survey, Ifo polls around 7,000 companies about their assessment of current business and their expectations for the next six months.
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