■ Economics
S Korean growth slowing
South Korea's economic growth will slow to a mid-4 percent level next year from this year's targeted 5 percent gain, Finance and Economy Minister Kwon Ok-kyu said yesterday. Higher oil prices and the strengthening of the won against the dollar have undermined South Korea's efforts to boost its export-led economy, the fourth largest in Asia. South Korea, which expanded 4 percent last year, aims to grow some 5 percent this year, a target that officials say is attainable. Officials said the economy was still on target for 5 percent growth this year.
■ Electronics
Matsushita may appeal
Samsung Electronics Co said yesterday that a US court has ruled that it and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co of Japan didn't infringe on each other's patent rights. Samsung made the statement in a filing to South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service. According to the filing, the ruling was made on Friday in federal court in the US state of New Jersey. Matsushita spokesman Shunji Kanamura said the company had heard from its local unit that a jury had reached a decision in the case but as yet did not have any details. "If the court has ruled on the matter as is being reported, then the decision is certainly not one with which we can be satisfied," Kanamura said. "We would seek a just solution, including the possibility of appealing the ruling." Japanese electronics maker Matsushita sued Samsung, the world's largest maker of computer memory chips, in 2002, accusing it of patent infringements in dynamic random access memory chip, or DRAM, technology. Samsung then filed a counter suit claiming Matsushita violated its patented technologies.
■ Banking
Thomas Matter steps down
The chief executive of embattled banking group Swissfirst AG stepped down with immediate effect yesterday, citing the increasing pressure on him over allegations of mismanagement and insider trading. Thomas Matter, who holds an 18.5 percent stake in the Zurich-based bank he founded more than a decade ago, said he would offer his shares to Swissfirst to use as part of its future strategy. The bank, which has put itself up for sale, was raided last week by prosecutors who seized documents as part of a criminal probe against Matter and several pension-fund managers in connection with Swissfirst's merger with Bellevue last year. In the run-up to the merger, Matter allegedly urged pension funds to sell their Swissfirst shares back to the bank, causing the funds to miss out on millions of Swiss francs when shares jumped upon news of the deal.
■ China
PRC enacts bankruptcy law
China has enacted an updated bankruptcy law that explicitly covers private businesses for the first time. The law passed on Sunday by parliament also raises the status of commercial creditors, requiring failed companies to pay them first instead of workers, who previously had priority, the Xinhua News Agency said. The law takes effect on June 1, next year. Previously, Chinese bankruptcy law only mentioned state-owned companies, leading to uncertainty about how to settle the debts of private businesses that failed. Officials defended the decision to give creditors priority over employees, saying it brings China into line with market economies and will reassure foreign investors.
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