■ Automobiles
China gets Lamborghini
Auto icon Lamborghini opened a dealership yesterday in China's commercial capital of Shanghai, looking to the country's newly affluent to weather slowdowns elsewhere. Lamborghini, owned by Germany's Volkswagen AG, says market research showed Shanghai, the country's biggest city and a virtual citadel to conspicuous consumption, to be the most promising market for its vehicles, which cost upwards of US$330,000. Luxury sports cars are still way outnumbered by standard Volkswagen and Buick sedans on China's jammed city streets, but foreign luxury car makers are still racing to boost sales. General Motors Corp makes Cadillacs in Shanghai and European brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz also operate assembly lines in the country.
■ Investment
Madras plans `little Japan'
A southern Indian state is looking to set up a small town for Japanese investors, designed to cater to the specific social and cultural needs of the expatriate community. The announcement was made after a meeting of Hirotaro Yamasaki, mayor of Japan's Fukuoka city, with top officials in the government of Tamil Nadu State in Madras on Monday, the Hindu Business Line reported. Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, the state's elected head, said she told Yamasaki that her government would explore a suitable location for a township that would be a "little Japan," the report said.
■ Currencies
Euro nears two-year low
The euro fell to a nearly two-year low against the US dollar yesterday on concerns over the ongoing violence in France and as traders looked for the gap to widen between key European and US interest rates. The 12-nation currency fell to US$1.1711 in morning European trading, its lowest level since trading at US$1.1631 on Nov. 13, 2003 and down from US$1.1793 late in New York the night before. The dollar built on gains against the euro from last week, when the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates to 4 percent, the highest level in more than four years, and there were indications it would continue with its measured increases. By contrast, the European Central Bank left its rate unchanged last week at 2 percent, where it has been for almost two-and-a-half years.
■ Textiles
US corn socks go to Japan
The Chicago White Sox may have won baseball's World Series, but the corn socks are coming to Japan. Biodegradable socks, made from corn-derived fibre and manufactured by US hosiery makers, should make their worldwide debut on Japanese store shelves sometime next year, industry officials said yesterday. The officials said they developed the value-added product in an attempt to compete with low-cost textile manufacturers in China and other Asian countries. The launch is backed by the US Grains Council, which aims to bolster demand for US corn by creating new markets, they said. Participating hosiery manufacturers are Fox River Mills Inc of Iowa, W.Y. Shugart & Sons Inc of Alabama, and Harriss & Covington Hosiery Mills and Twin City Knitting, both of North Carolina. The corn-based socks will cost about 20 percent more than socks now available in Japan, he said. In Japan, a pair of socks made from cotton, wool or petroleum-based fibers such as nylon or polyester costs about ?300 (US$2.50).
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)