■ Automobiles
Toyota to join hybrid race
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday that it would enter a hybrid vehicle in Japan's only 24-hour race later this month, marking the first time a major automaker is playing a leading role in putting a gas-and-electric car in a competition that has semi-international status. The hybrid Lexus GS450h sedan will take part in the Tokachi 24-hour race at Tokachi International Speedway in Hokkaido from July 15-17, Toyota said in a statement. Up until now in Japan, only private teams that had hybrids have competed in independent events at various racing circuits.
■ Aviation
Chicago leads in traffic
O'Hare International Airport was the US' busiest airport in terms of air traffic during the first half of the year, surpassing Atlanta's, according to government statistics. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had the second-most flights from Jan. 1 through June 30, according to statistics released on Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration. Chicago and Atlanta have run neck-and-neck in recent years to claim the title of busiest airport. In third place was Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The number of flights encompasses both takeoffs and landings, according to the administration. O'Hare registered 477,001 flights, down 1.3 percent from last year but still enough to lead the list, according to the administration. Atlanta registered 472,431 flights, down 5 percent.
■ Airlines
EU dismisses easyJet's suit
The EU's second-highest court threw out yesterday a challenge from easyJet to the merger of Air France and KLM, backing an EU regulators' decision to let the deal go through. British low-cost carrier easyJet was seeking to get the European Court of First Instance to annul the European Commission's decision in February 2004 to approve the merger of Air France and KLM. EasyJet held that the EU competition watchdog had underestimated the risk to competition represented by the merger. But the court upheld the commission's decision, finding that easyJet had failed to demonstrate that Brussels had made "manifest errors" in its judgment.
■ Footwear
EU may hike tariffs
Seeking to avoid another surge of imports of leather shoes from Asia, the EU said on Monday that it was drafting plans to impose a combination of tariffs and quotas that would last five years. Under the European plan, which is still being discussed with the member countries and is subject to ministerial approval, the EU would levy normal duties on only 140 million pairs of leather shoes from China and on 95 million pairs from Vietnam, according to figures from the Reuters news agency. For imports above those volumes, Europe could add a duty of 23 percent in the case of China, and 29.5 percent in the case of Vietnam, Reuters reported.
■ Retail
Korea trade fines Carrefour
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said yesterday it has fined French retailer Carrefour SA's South Korean unit 1.39 billion won (US$1.5 million) for unfair business practices. The commission, South Korea's antitrust regulator, said in a statement that Carrefour Korea unfairly saved 1.74 billion won on supply orders last year by forcing its suppliers to agree to pacts that allowed Carrefour to purchase goods at heavy discounts for extended periods.
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