■ LCD televisions
Sales could beat forecasts
Global shipments of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions this year will rise 60 percent, more than expected, as falling prices spur demand, technology industry researcher ISuppli Corp said. Shipments will rise to 31.4 million units this year from 19.6 million last year, ISuppli said in a statement. In September, the El Segundo, California-based researcher projected global shipments would total 24.6 million units this year and 17.1 million units last year. Sharp Corp and Royal Philips Electronics NV, the world's two largest LCD TV set makers, increased market share during the third quarter, ISuppli said. Sony Corp leapfrogged Samsung Electronics Co, LG Electronics Inc and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co to become the third-largest producer during the quarter, according to ISuppli.
■ Cameras
Canon to build lens plant
Canon Inc, which is expecting a sixth year of record profits, will spend about ?14 billion (US$121 million) building a lens factory to meet rising demand for digital cameras that have interchangeable lenses. The plant will be built in Japan's Oita Prefecture where the company already has a factory that makes digital and video cameras, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. Canon will hire about 600 workers and aims to begin production in May next year, it said. Canon currently makes lenses elsewhere in Japan and in Taiwan.
■ Casinos
Asian profits set to soar
Gross revenue from legal casino gambling in Asia will be an estimated US$13 billion this year, a 20 percent increase over last year, according to a research report. The report by Globalysis, a Las Vegas-based firm that tracks Asia's casino gaming markets, attributed the increase largely to new tourist facilities in Macau and "associated increased activity" at the Chinese enclave's renowned gaming centers. It said the biggest jump in revenue -- an estimated US$4 billion -- would come in the fourth quarter of this year, mostly because of the planned opening of the Wynn Macau casino in September. Globalysis said it expected other Asian casino markets such as Australia and South Korea to do well. The Globalysis report said there has been significant business development in Singapore, but it did not expect the Singapore casino market to contribute to Asian gross gaming revenue until about 2011.
■ Automakers
S&P slashes Ford rating
Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Thursday cut struggling automaker Ford Motor Co's credit rating deeper into junk status. "The downgrade reflects our increased skepticism about Ford's ability to turn around the performance of its North American automotive operations -- a process that will require, at best, a number of years," the agency said in a report. The rating downgrade came a day after Ford announced a 9 percent drop in sales last month and a 5 percent drop in overall sales for last year. The agency warned that Ford's North American unit could post as much as a US$2 billion pre-tax loss last year, although the company as a whole is expected to end the year with a profit thanks to earnings from its financial unit. Ford's North American unit posted a US$1.4 billion loss in the first nine months of last year.
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