■ FROZEN FOODS
General Mills recalls pizzas
US food giant General Mills said on Thursday that it was recalling 414,000 cases of frozen pizzas from supermarkets on concerns they may be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. The company said the voluntary recall affected Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas with pepperoni toppings that were produced at the company's Wellston, Ohio, plant. The problem was uncovered by state and federal authorities investigating 21 occurrences of E. coli-related illnesses in 10 states as of July 20, General Mills said. About half of those who became ill were hospitalized as a result.
■ ELECTRONICS
EMC hikes China investment
Data storage vendor EMC Corp said on Thursday it would double its investment in China to US$1 billion over the next five years. The announcement expands a US$500 million commitment EMC made in June last year to invest in China through 2012. The additional money will cover expanding research and development operations and sales and services in China, a key market for EMC data storage software and hardware. Joe Tucci, the Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based company's chairman, president and chief executive, announced the increased investment at an event to open a new R&D center in Beijing.
■ REAL ESTATE
US foreclosures soar in Q3
Banks and mortgage firms filed foreclosure notices against 446,726 US homes in the third quarter, almost double the number lodged a year earlier, an industry report showed on Thursday. RealtyTrac, a California-based company that monitors the property market, said foreclosure notices had rocketed 30 percent during the quarter from the prior quarter. "August and September were the two highest monthly foreclosure filing totals we've seen since we began issuing our report in January 2005," RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said.
■ ENERGY
Petrobras taps into Japan
Brazilian energy giant Petrobras is set to buy an oil refinery in southern Japan as it seeks to tap fast-growing demand for energy in China and other Asian markets, a report said yesterday. The state-run group will purchase a 87.5 percent stake in the refinery from TonenGeneral, a subsidiary of US oil giant ExxonMobil, for several billion yen, the Nikkei Business Daily said. After taking control of the refinery's operator, Nansei Sekiyu, Petrobras will spend ?100 billion (US$880 million) on upgrading the facilities, the paper said without naming its sources. The upgraded plant will likely go into operation in around 2010, the report said.
■ INTERNET
Hanarotelecom stock soars
Shares of South Korea's No. 2 broadband service provider Hanarotelecom Inc rose as much as 10 percent yesterday on talk that Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd may become the preferred buyer of a controlling stake in the company. The JoongAng Ilbo daily reported yesterday that Macquarie had offered 12,000 Korean won (US$13.21) a share for a 39 percent stake in Hanarotelecom. In a recent round of bidding, Macquarie outbid other potential buyers offering around 10,000 won a share. Hanarotelecom's largest shareholding group, comprising American International Group, TPG Capital and TVG Capital Partners, wanted 14,000 won a share.
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
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
‘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)