■ Agriculture
PRC allows US beef imports
China has resumed limited imports of US beef, the government said yesterday, easing a three-year-old ban imposed after the first case of mad cow disease was detected in the US. The resumption took effect on Thursday and applies to boneless cuts of beef from US cows under 30 months of age, the Agriculture Ministry said on its Web site. It didn't say when imports of other types of beef would resume. Chinese trade negotiators pledged in April to ease the beef ban, which had prompted US complaints.
■ Banking
Ex-bank executive jailed
A former Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) executive received a one-year jail sentence yesterday for accepting bribes from a consultant on the 2003 sale of the bank to US investment fund Lone Star, court officials said. The Seoul District Court found Chun Yong-joon guilty of taking 200 million won (US$208,000) in bribes. He had served as KEB executive director in 2003 when Lone Star bought a controlling stake in the country's fifth largest lender for 1.38 trillion won. Chung was the first suspect to be tried since prosecutors launched an investigation in April into the 2003 deal.
■ Energy
PRC raises electricity prices
China yesterday raised retail electricity prices for the first time in over a year to offset increased costs, the government's economic planning body said. The average cost of electricity was increased by 0.025 yuan per kilowatt hour from yesterday, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its Web site. It did not say what the percentage increase was. China last increased power prices in May last year when it introduced coal-electricity price adjustments after power producers complained bitterly about surging coal prices and sharp demand by coal-fired power plants.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Bayer to sell operations
German drug maker Bayer said on Thursday that it was selling its diagnostics operations to Siemens for 4.2 billion euros (US$5.26 billion). The sale, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first half of next year, Bayer said in a statement. Munich-based Siemens said the purchase is part of its continued expansion of its health care equipment and services business. The deal will also help partly finance Bayer's pending takeover of domestic rival Schering AG. The sale was approved on Thursday evening after markets in Europe had closed by Bayer's supervisory board in Leverkusen.
■ Aviation
Airport probe launched
Britain's competition regulator said yesterday it will study airport owner BAA PLC's domination of airport ownership. BAA, which recently agreed to a takeover by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial SA, owns London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports. The Office of Fair Trading, which had said in May that it was considering a review, said it would examine whether "the current market structure works well for consumers." BAA also operates airports at Southampton England; and in the Scottish cities of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. A consortium led by Ferrovial, the Spanish construction company, won a fight for control of BAA with a £10 billion (US$18.4 billion) bid.
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)