■ Automobiles
Chung faces more charges
Additional charges have been filed against jailed Hyundai Motor Co chairman Chung Mong-koo, South Korean prosecutors said yesterday, in relation to a bribery scandal that has engulfed South Korea's largest automaker. Prosecutors in Seoul indicted Chung on two more counts of breach of trust, said spokesman Kang Chan-woo. The 68-year-old Chung, jailed in late April, was charged last month with allegedly embezzling company money to create a 103.4 billion won (US$108.4 million) fund that the prosecutors suspect was used to pay lobbyists to seek government favors. Kang said that prosecutors had decided to not file charges against Chung's son, Kia Motors Corp president Chung Eui-sun, in the case "as the main responsibility lies with his father."
■ Health
Sleepiness costing firms
Japan's corporate warriors aren't getting enough sleep -- and it's costing the country billions. In the country that gave the world the word karoshi, or death from overwork, drowsy employees turning up late, taking days off or struggling to stay awake on the job are causing economic losses of some US$30 billion a year, according to a survey. The survey questioned some 3,075 workers at a chemical company on their sleeping and working habits for a month. Some 37 percent of respondents said they had problems sleeping. They said their efficiency at work was reduced by about 40 percent and reported a high frequency of accidents, lateness and absenteeism. "Not everyone who is sleepy at work is lazy. It's hard to tell your boss that you are sleepy, but ignoring the problem can lead to losses in the long run," said Makoto Uchiyama, professor and chairman of the department of neuropsychiatry at Nihon University School of Medicine, who led the study. "It may be thought that this is a Japanese problem. But it's not, it's global."
■ Banking
Bad loans rise in China
China's outstanding bank loans rose nearly 16 percent last month over a year earlier to 209.4 billion yuan (US$26 billion), state media reported yesterday. The figures show efforts to curb an investment binge may not to be working, said the Shanghai Securities News, a newspaper run by the official Xinhua news agency. New loans totaled 2.12 trillion yuan in just the first five months of the year, closing in on the central bank's annual target of 2.5 trillion yuan, the paper reported. It said China's four biggest state commercial banks accounted for half of the new loans last month. The government has sought to discourage what it deems to be excessive investments in real estate and other construction.
■ ECONOMY
India raises interest rates
India's central bank raised two key interest rates by a quarter percentage point each, in a move that surprised many as it came faster than expected. The Reserve Bank of India late on Thursday raised its overnight borrowing rate to 5.75 percent and its repurchase rate to 6.75 percent with immediate effect. Both rates were last raised in January by a quarter percentage point each. In a statement, the Reserve Bank said the rates were increased after a "review of current macroeconomic and overall monetary conditions." The hikes came on the same day that central banks in Europe and South Korea also raised key rates.
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