■ ENERGY
PRC firm in Canada project
China National Petroleum Corp (中國石油天然氣) has become the first Chinese firm to control a Canadian oil sands project after winning exploration rights to the resources in Alberta, state press said yesterday. The country's largest oil producer has secured exploration rights to 11 sections with an area of 258.6km2, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing unnamed company sources. The deal, expected to eventually yield 220,000 barrels of crude daily, is the first case of a Chinese firm taking a controlling stake in a Canadian oil sands project, the report said.
■ MEDIA
Journalists snub Murdoch
About 200 Wall Street Journal journalists did not show up for work on Thursday morning to demonstrate their opposition to a potential takeover of the newspaper by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the Association of Publishers' Employees union said. The number of journalists who participated in the action represented about one-third of the prestigious business daily's US staff. The journal employs some 700 journalists worldwide, 600 of whom are based in the US. The journalists returned to work on Thursday afternoon and a Dow Jones spokeswoman said yesterday's publication would not be disrupted.
■ ELECTRONICS
Victor Co focuses abroad
Victor Co of Japan Ltd said yesterday it will stop selling car audio products in Japan this month and focus on its overseas activities. JVC, as the company is commonly known, is struggling to regain its footing and is cutting underperforming operations after suffering losses the past three business years. The company's domestic car audio sales have been falling on shrinking demand and are much smaller than its overseas sales. It will stop shipping car audio products to Japan from its plant in Indonesia and will shut 10 sales offices in Japan.
■ TRADE
South Korea, US ink FTA
South Korea and the US have agreed on final changes to their free trade agreement, paving the way for its signing today, the prime minister's office said yesterday. South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told managing editors of major newspapers and broadcast outlets that Seoul and Washington had agreed to change parts of the agreement to include new US labor and environmental standards for free trade agreements, his office said. Han said the agreement was reached and "trade ministers of both sides plan to sign at 10am June 30 in Washington," an official in Han's office who was present at the meeting quoted him as saying.
■ FINANCE
PRC to reduce interest tax
China's legislature yesterday gave the green light to end or reduce a 20 percent tax on bank deposit interest income, a move aimed at curtailing overabundant liquidity in the financial system. The approval granted will allow China's Cabinet to change the tax as part of a broader campaign to restrict speculative investment, especially in the stock and property markets. Bank deposit rates in China lag inflation and real interest rates have moved into negative territory, encouraging investors to move their funds out of banks and into other investment instruments, notably the A-share market.
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