■ Internet
AOL, HP ink Netscape deal
America Online (AOL) has inked a deal to distribute its Netscape Web browser with Hewlett-Packard Co personal computers sold in the US and Canada starting early next year. It's the first PC distribution deal for an alternative browser since Microsoft Corp won the "browser wars" of the late 1990s. Under the agreement, Netscape will be preinstalled on all new HP and Compaq brand consumer PCs. New computer owners will be able to choose Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape as their default browser. They will also be able to access the program from the "Start" menu and an icon on the desktop. The easy access to PC desktops gives a helping hand to Netscape, which lost its place as the dominant Internet browser after Microsoft bundled IE with its near-ubiquitous Windows operating system, which is preloaded onto PCs.
■ South Korea
Samsung execs convicted
A Seoul court yesterday convicted two Samsung executives of arranging shady deals to transfer corporate control of the country's largest conglomerate from father to son nearly a decade ago. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Hur Tae-hak, a former head of Everland, a Samsung unit that runs South Korea's largest amusement park, and another Samsung executive, Park Ro-bin, on charges of selling the children of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee convertible bonds at prices lower than market value. The two were indicted in 2003. The 1996 deal is believed to have helped son Lee Jae-yong, now an executive at Samsung Electronics, and three daughters make some 97 billion won (US$93 million) in illegal profits.
■ United States
China expels DVD pirate
A US man convicted in China of selling pirated DVDs now faces multiple charges of copyright infringement in the US, American authorities said. Chinese officials expelled Randolph Hobson Guthrie, turning him over to US authorities in Los Angeles late last week. He was scheduled to appear in federal court yesterday for a bond hearing, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. After the bond hearing, Guthrie is expected to be transferred to Mississippi to face copyright infringement, trafficking and money laundering charges. The probe that led to the charges dates to September 2003, when an undercover ICE agent bought counterfeit DVDs at a Mississippi flea market.
■ Auto industry
Alliance starts work
DaimlerChrysler AG, Hyundai Motor Co and Mitsubishi Corp began production at a new plant that will supply engines for nearly two dozen vehicle models worldwide. The plant is part of the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA), a joint venture among the companies. The plant and a sister plant in Dundee, which will be completed next year, will each have the capacity to build 420,000 engines annually, DaimlerChrysler said. The two plants are among a group of five GEMA plants, including facilities in South Korea and Japan, that will eventually produce 1.8 million engines yearly. The four-cylinder GEMA engines are designed to deliver 5 percent better fuel efficiency than those they are replacing.
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