■FINANCIAL CRIME
Ssangyong ex-chief jailed
A South Korean court yesterday handed a four-year jail sentence to the former chief of the Ssangyong Group, which was largely broken up following Asia’s 1997 and 1998 financial crisis. The Seoul District Court convicted Kim Suk-won of embezzlement and breach of trust. Kim, 63, was found guilty of using 160 billion won (US$154 million) in company funds illegally to support troubled group units and of embezzling 700 million won. In previous hearings Kim called for leniency and said he had not used the money for his personal interests.
■INTERNET
Firefox 3 sets world record
Mozilla, developer of open-source Web browser Firefox, said on Wednesday it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours. More than 8 million people downloaded Firefox 3 in the period following its official launch, the company said in a statement. Key rivals to Firefox are market leader Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple Inc’s Safari browser. Mozilla is in a battle with Microsoft, which unveiled an experimental version of its Internet Explorer 8 in Las Vegas in April and has been looking to expand its presence on the Web.
■TEXTILES
Marimekko in trademark row
Finnish textile design company Marimekko said on Wednesday it was fighting to protect its trademark on a poppy flower pattern called “Unikko,” after Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana had sought to declare it invalid. The Italian fashion house, which Marimekko says has been using its red flower pattern without permission, had submitted an application to the EU agency for registered trade marks and designs to have the “Unikko” trademark voided. The Finnish company said it had filed a suit against the Italian firm in Hamburg earlier this year to block it from using the design and the district court had granted an injunction on sales and marketing of certain Dolce & Gabbana products in Germany.
■INTERNET
Online ad deal scrutinized
The US Department of Justice said on Wednesday it was scrutinizing a proposed online advertising deal between Google and Yahoo to make certain it does not stifle competition. “We are looking at the competitive effects of the transaction and how it affects consumers,” department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. Microsoft has ruled out making another bid for the whole of Yahoo, after it withdrew a nearly US$48 billion offer in May and Yahoo announced on June 12 that discussions with the software giant on a tie-up had ended. In another twist in the Yahoo saga, rumors resurfaced on Wednesday that Microsoft is interested in buying at least part of the California firm.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo planning new plant
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co, the world’s top rechargeable battery maker, said yesterday it would build a new domestic plant as part of plans to boost its output of lithium-ion batteries by 30 percent. Sanyo plans to build the new plant in Minami Awaji City, western Japan, to produce batteries mainly for use in personal computers, company spokeswoman Yuko Hosaka said. The plant will be operational early next year. Combined with output at another plant set to go into operation early next year in Kaizuka City, western Japan, Sanyo’s production capacity of lithium-ion batteries will reach 90 million cells a month, she said. That would mark a 30 percent increase from the current level.
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)