■ Retailing
Fujiya factory probed
Health authorities investigated a Fujiya cake factory yesterday suspected of using old milk in cream puffs and other confections as public outrage grew about sloppy sanitation standards at the popular Japanese confectioner. Earlier this week, Fujiya Co president Rintaro Fujii announced his resignation after acknowledging that a company probe had found old ingredients, including milk, cream, eggs, blueberry jam and apple filling, had been repeatedly used in products. But in the latest twist, Fujiya said yesterday that it had not gone public with a 1995 food poisoning case that sickened nine people who ate custard-filled cakes tainted with bacteria, company spokesman Fumio Shimada said.
■ Jobs
Career advancement survey
Employees who frequently work from home may be hurting their chances to advance their careers, a survey by Korn/Ferry International reported on Tuesday. So-called "telecommuters" are less likely to advance than peers who work in traditional office settings, 61 percent of the 1,300 global executives surveyed said. This was despite the belief by three-quarters of executives that telecommuters are as productive as their desk-bound colleagues, the survey found. Workers climbing the corporate ladder need "face time," said Robert McNabb, chief executive of Korn/Ferry's Futurestep division.
■ Automobiles
Call for alternative fuels
General Motors Corp chief executive Rick Wagoner called on the US government to promote development of alternative fuels such as ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells and advanced battery technology by using tax credits or fuel subsidies. His comments -- made while oil prices are at a 19-month low -- came at an auto industry conference on Tuesday. Wagoner was happy the price of oil has dropped below US$52 a barrel but did not think it will last. "We run the risk of reverting back to our traditional energy policy," he told the Automotive News World Congress.
■ Entertainment
EMI, Baidu form partnership
EMI Group of Britain, the world's third-largest music group, and China's Baidu.com Inc (百度) said on Tuesday they had formed a strategic partnership to launch an advertising-supported online music streaming service in China. The two companies in a joint statement also agreed to explore advertising-supported music download services. Under the deal, the Chinese repertoire from EMI's Typhoon Music will be made available for streaming, free of charge, to all users of Baidu. Baidu will also create an "EMI Music Zone" that will legally stream all of EMI's Chinese artists.
■ Advertising
Watchdog berates Colgate
Colgate-Palmolive must stop claiming that more than 80 percent of dentists recommend its toothpaste, Britain's advertising watchdog ruled yesterday. The claim had appeared in poster adverts for Colgate Total Advanced Fresh toothpaste, prompting two complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA said four of the Colgate-Palmolive (UK) Ltd brands were licensed medicinal products for which endorsement by health professionals was prohibited. Colgate said it had commissioned a research agency to survey dentists and hygienists on a wide range of subjects each year.
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