■ AUTOMOBILES
Workers ratify labor deal
Workers at a key supplier to General Motors Corp ratified a new labor agreement late on Thursday, ending a strike that had forced the US automaker to shut down several factories. The United Auto Workers said 78 percent of members at five American Axle and Manufacturing Holding Inc locations had approved the new four-year labor agreement, which covers 3,650 workers, while 22 percent rejected it. The deal forces workers to accept deep cuts in pay and benefits, from US$28 an hour on average to US$18.50. At some plants, pay for some support jobs will be reduced to US$10 an hour.
■ SINGAPORE
Inflation hits 26-year high
The country's annual inflation rate rose to a 26-year high of 7.5 percent last month as food, housing and transportation costs soared, and it is now a risk to the economy, the government said yesterday. Food prices alone rose 8.5 percent, transportation and communication were 7 percent higher and housing costs became 11.8 percent more expensive, it said. Last month’s inflation rate was the highest since February 1982, when it stood at 9 percent. The trade ministry has bumped up its forecast for inflation this year to between 5 percent and 6 percent from between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Economic growth slows
The country's economy grew at its slowest pace in three years in the first quarter as stronger household spending failed to offset weaker industrial output and a sharp fall in business investment. The Office for National Statistics confirmed yesterday that the economy grew an unrevised 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year, leaving the annual rate at 2.5 percent. Analysts had not expected a revision and there was little market reaction. Despite slowing growth, inflationary pressures are rising and money markets have completely priced out the chance of any further interest rate cuts this year.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota, Matsushita team up
Toyota Motor Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co plan to jointly build two plants producing batteries for hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars, a report said yesterday. The move would come amid growing competition between Japanese automakers to take a lead in the race to tap demand for environmentally friendly car technologies amid soaring prices at the pump. The companies’ joint venture Panasonic EV Energy Co plans to build two plants to double its annual production of such batteries to 1 million units by 2011, the Nikkei Shimbun reported, without naming sources.
■ REAL ESTATE
Vietnam opens up market
Vietnam has passed a law allowing certain categories of foreigners to buy apartments beginning next year, marking the first time it allows non-citizens to own real estate, the government Web site said yesterday. The country’s National Assembly approved the new legislation on Thursday, with 88 percent of deputies voting in favor of the change. Foreigners who are eligible under the new regulations can only buy apartments in developments approved for foreign residency, not houses or land. Ownership will be for a term of 50 years, by which time the foreign owners must sell or transfer the property.
Agencies
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)