■ Technology
HP plans to cut more jobs
Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Tuesday raised its estimates for job cuts to 15,300 under a big reorganization launched last year. The information technology powerhouse had estimated cuts of 14,500 jobs when it announced the restructuring last July. In its latest update to investors, the Palo Alto, California, group said the "realignment is part of HP's efforts announced in July last year to simplify the company's structure, reduce costs and bring a renewed focus on serving customers ... These ongoing efforts will result in the overall elimination of 15,300 positions by end of fiscal year 2006 [in October] and are intended to streamline the company by restructuring support functions and improve accountability and executive focus through a simpler reporting structure with fewer management layers." Chief executive Mark Hurd said the restructuring is expected to be completed by November.
■ Telecoms
SK Telecom inks China pact
South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom said yesterday it has secured a foothold in China's fast-growing wireless telephone market by forging a strategic alliance with China Unicom. SK Telecom said it would buy convertible bonds worth about US$1 billion from China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile phone operator with 130 million subscribers, on July 5. The three-year bonds will be converted into a 6.67 percent stake, it said. "The strategic alliance will help SK Telecom secure a foothold for direct inroads into China which is an attractive telecom market with growth in both quantity and quality," SK Telecom chief executive officer Kim Shin-bae said in a statement. SK Telecom said the 18-month exclusive alliance highlighted cooperation in CDMA mobile operations, including terminal production, content service and marketing and infrastructure. SK Telecom will invest more in China if its partner obtains a 3G service license, he said.
■ Robotics
Microsoft shows new kit
Microsoft showed off a robot-building software kit on Tuesday that it said will free inventors to make creations limited only by their imaginations. Microsoft pulled the curtain back on its Microsoft Robotics Studio at the RoboBusiness and Exposition 2006 in the US state of Pennsylvania. "It can address both high-end robots and very simple robots. It is about Microsoft building a bootstrap, or a platform, to allow the industry to integrate the pieces they are developing," said Tandy Trower, manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group. Anyone wanting to test-drive the software could download it without charge at msdn.microsoft.com/robotics.
■ Mining
Australian firms hike prices
Australian mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto said yesterday they had reached agreement with Chinese steel mills on a 19 percent hike in iron ore prices this year. BHP Billiton said it a statement on its Web site had reached agreement "with a number of its Chinese steel customers on prices for contracted iron ore tonnage for the 2006 contract year ... Prices increased by 19 percent over prices negotiated in respect of the 2005 year across the range of lump and fines iron ore products supplied by BHP Billiton," the statement said. Rio Tinto announced similar details between its Hammersly Iron division and Chinese steel companies in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday.
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