■ Securities
Livedoor indictments sought
Japan's securities watchdog will file a criminal complaint with prosecutors against Livedoor, raising the chances that shares in the once high-flying Internet firm will be delisted, reports said yesterday. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission also plans to bring the complaint against Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie, three other executives and affiliate Livedoor Marketing, Jiji Press news agency and other reports said. The commission was reportedly set to take action as early as yesterday, arguing they violated the securities law by cooking accounts of Livedoor Marketing and releasing wrong information on the purchase of a publishing firm in 2004. It will ask prosecutors to indict the two companies and four executives, the reports said.
■ Aviation
Cheap airline pioneer dies
Sir Freddie Laker, the British entrepreneur seen as the pioneer of charter airlines, has died in the US aged 83, the BBC reported yesterday. Laker, who introduced cheap air travel to the world in the 1970s, died of undisclosed causes in Miami, a family friend told the BBC. Laker founded the company Laker Airways in 1966, offering cut-price tickets between London and New York, in what is now seen as the forerunner of the budget airline boom. His business folded in 1982. British tycoon and owner of Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson, yesterday called Laker "one of Britain's great entrepreneurs." "If it hadn't been for Sir Freddie you wouldn't most likely have had Virgin Atlantic or Easyjet," Branson said.
■ Aviation
Malaysia opens terminal
Malaysia said yesterday it will launch its new airport terminal for budget airlines on March 23, two days before neighboring Singapore's Changi Airport opens a rival low-cost wing. The Low Cost Carrier Terminal, located at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), will initially be used by Southeast Asia's top budget airline AirAsia, but other carriers are expected to come on board, Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy said. "We welcome other low cost carriers to operate here. At the moment, we have received a few responses from other carriers," he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama after touring the terminal. Malaysia decided to build the dedicated terminal to help the KLIA compete as a regional hub and counter competition from neighbors Singapore and Thailand.
■ Computers
Microsoft plans expansion
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it would spend US$1 billion over the next three years to increase the size of its Redmond, Washington, headquarters campus. The software giant said a development agreement was approved by the city of Redmond last May to expand the company's headquarters over the next 15 to 20 years. About half of the development will be completed by 2009, the company said, adding that the newly expanded headquarters will be one of the largest corporate campuses in the world. Coupled with leased spaces, the 14 new buildings will be able to house 12,000 people based on the current layout. By June 2009, an extra 290,000m2 will be available. The company will contribute US$35 million for road and other infrastructure improvements in Redmond.
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)