■ Telecoms
Nokia users to get CNN
Nokia Oyj, the world's largest cellphone supplier, said on Monday it had inked an agreement with Turner Broadcasting for mobile phone users to view Turner's Cartoon Network on mobile handsets in Europe. Cellphone subscribers, using Nokia's Content Discoverer, will be able to browse, download and purchase over-the-air Cartoon Network games, video clips and other content, Nokia said. Financial terms were not disclosed. Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited broadcasts news and entertainment on several channels, including CNN, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies in 100 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
■ Telecoms
LG's Q3 profit plunges
LG Electronics Co yesterday said that third-quarter net profit plunged as a hefty loss in its flat-panel unit erased profits from mobile phone sales. LG Electronics earned 22.7 billion won (US$23.8 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, the company said in a statement, representing a drop of 85 percent from the same period last year. Margins in LG Electronics' handset division swung into the black, after posting losses the two preceding quarters, on robust sales of its trendy, higher-priced "Chocolate" mobile phones.
■ Aviation
BA opens bid for new planes
British Airways yesterday launched bidding for the renewal of its long-haul fleet and invited US plane maker Boeing Co and its European rival Airbus SAS to take part. Among the planes BA plans to replace are 20 Boeing 747 jumbo jets and 14 Boeing 767s that have been in service for up to 25 years, the airline said in a statement. Orders for the planes are expected to be placed next year. BA said it would consider the purchase of Airbus' new A380 superjumbo and Boeing's innovative 787 Dreamliner. The current list prices for the all aircraft being considered range between US$160 million and US$316 million.
■ Banking
ICBC's IPO fully subscribed
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (中國工商銀行), China's largest lender by assets, said yesterday that the strategic tranche of its Shanghai initial public offering was fully subscribed on the first day it was opened to institutional investors. Among a total of 23 domestic strategic investors, state-owned China Life Insurance (Group) Co, its Hong Kong-listed unit China Life Insurance Co and China Pacific Life Insurance Co were the biggest bidders, each bidding for 2 billion yuan (US$252 million) worth of new yuan-denominated "A" shares, the company said.
■ Software
iSoft open to takeover
British software developer iSoft Group PLC, which has suffered from problems with a massive government contract, yesterday said it is open to takeover offers. The announcement came as the company disclosed that it expects revenues to drop by 10 percent to 15 percent in the first half and in the full year which ends April 30. The cost of new arrangements negotiated with banks in August "will become progressively more onerous through 2007," company chairman John Weston said in a statement. He expects revenue to start growing again in the 2008 fiscal year. The company secured two contracts in 2004 to develop software for Britain's National Health Service. The venture has been hit by delays and cost overruns.
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)