■ Auto industry
BMW posts record sales
German luxury automaker BMW boosted global vehicle sales by nearly 10 percent last year to a record 1.33 million, with US sales topping the list, the company said on Monday. All of the Munich-based automaker's brands -- BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce -- posted higher sales last year, according to data released at the Detroit Motor Show. Profit and dollar sales figures were not released yet. "We expect BMW Group to stay on the growth path also in 2006," chief executive Helmut Panke said. Claiming world leadership in the premium car market, the company said it sold 1,127 million of its flagship BMW brand cars last year, up 10.1 percent from the year before. Sales of Mini models rose by 8.7 percent to 200,400.
■ Aviation
United secures financing
United Airlines' parent UAL Corp said on Monday it secured US$3 billion in loans and credits as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy, which is scheduled for Feb. 1. The financing by JP Morgan and Citigroup is secured by effectively all of United's assets. United is scheduled to present its reorganization plan at a Jan. 18 hearing, with an official Chapter 11 exit coming two weeks after that. A majority of all United's creditor classes have approved the exit plan, and the results of the balloting have been forwarded to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which is overseeing the case, the company said.
■ Aviation
EU endorses compensation
A 2004 EU law that increases compensation to airline passengers for delays, cancelations and overbooking conforms to EU rules, Europe's highest court said. The rules, which took effect last February, raised compensation for travelers stranded because of overbooked or canceled flights to between 250 euros (US$302) and 600 euros from a maximum of 300 euros. Airlines also must provide meals and hotels for delayed passengers. "The regulation on compensation and assistance for air passengers is valid," the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in a statement yesterday. Full-service airlines such as British Airways Plc and low-cost carriers including Ryanair Holdings Plc want the legislation scrapped. The airlines have said the law breaches rule-making procedures and contravenes an international agreement that provides a defense to airlines in cases of delay that are beyond their control.
■ Technology
Oracle to add staff in India
US business software maker Oracle Corp plans to hire 1,400 people in India as part of its plans to expand its operations to nine more cites in the South Asian nation, a company executive said yesterday. Oracle already has about 8,600 employees in India and operates in six cities, and is looking to quickly add the additional staff, said Derek Williams, the company's executive vice president for Asia-Pacific. Williams refused to specify what types of operations would be set up in the three new cities. The company already operates research and development centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad. "We will grow from 8,600 employees to over 10,000 employees over the next eight months," he said on the sidelines of a two-day conference Oracle is hosting on the future of information technology in Bombay. The conference began yesterday. Over the past five years, Oracle has invested over US$2 billion in India, he said.
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
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
‘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)