■ Food
Hershey products recalled
A variety of Hershey chocolate products and candies in Canada were voluntarily recalled on Sunday because of fears of salmonella contamination at a factory. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the products, Hershey Co said in a statement. Hershey brand chocolate bars, chocolate chips, Oh Henry! bars, Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Cherry Blossom sweets were among the products recalled. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials said they were told by Hershey that it did not appear there was a widespread delivery of the affected products to stores. The recall involves chocolate produced at the Smiths Falls, Ontario, factory between Oct. 15 and Nov. 10.
■ Telecoms
Motorola nails China order
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest maker of cellphones, said it received a US$1.6 billion order to sell handsets to China Telling Communications Co (天音通信). The contract for the order was to be signed yesterday in Beijing, Michael Tatelman, Motorola's North Asia general manager, said without giving details.
■ Energy
Hitachi, GE in nuke venture
Japan's Hitachi and US-based General Electric (GE) plan to form a joint venture in the nuclear power business in Japan and US, Hitachi said yesterday in a statement. The two companies had signed a letter of intent for a joint strategic tie-up on advanced boiling water reactors. Hitachi will own 80 percent of the Japan-based venture, compared with 20 percent by GE. Hitachi will hold 40 percent in the US-based business, while GE will have 60 percent, the company said. The release did not give details on how much money the companies would be investing. Other details on how the venture will be set up or what the timeline will be will be worked out later, Hitachi said.
■ Japan
Current account surplus up
The nation's current account surplus in September rose 9.4 percent from a year ago, expanding for a third straight month owing in part to healthy exports as the country's economy recovers, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the world, rose to ?2.025 trillion (US$17.3 billion) in September before seasonal adjustment, the data showed. That increase was larger than expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones, who forecast an increase of 8.5 percent. The jump followed increases of 22.2 percent in August and 7.1 percent in July. The current account measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment.
■ Construction
CEO quits over options
KB Home, the fifth-largest US homebuilder by revenue, said CEO Bruce Karatz is leaving after an internal investigation found he incorrectly dated stock-options grants. Chief operating officer Jeffrey Mezger will succeed Karatz as CEO, Los Angeles-based KB Home said in a statement sent by Business Wire yesterday. Karatz, who spent 34 years at the company, has agreed to pay back about US$13 million to KB Home, it said in the statement. In August, the company started reviewing options awarded in 1999 to Karatz. The probe found that Karatz and Gary Ray, head of human resources, selected grant dates for options, KB Home said yesterday. Ray was fired and Richard Hirst resigned as chief legal officer, according to the statement.
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)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite