■ INTERNET
Pickens dumps Yahoo
Influential US investor T. Boone Pickens told a major California newspaper that he has dumped millions of shares of Yahoo stock at a loss. In a San Francisco Chronicle interview published on Tuesday, the billionaire said Yahoo executives’ handling of failed takeover talks with Microsoft was “pathetic” and that he is tired of waiting for a deal to come together. Pickens did not disclose how much money he lost speculating on a Yahoo-Microsoft tie-up, but the price of Yahoo shares has slipped several dollars since May, the month Pickens says he acquired the shares. The California firm’s shareholders will gather tomorrow in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita finalizes plant
Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co plans to build a new ¥100 billion (US$950 million) lithium-ion battery plant in western Japan, the Japanese maker of Panasonic electronics products said yesterday. Matsushita’s battery subsidiary has scheduled production for 2010 at the plant in Osaka, where Matsushita is based. Matsushita already has two nearby battery plants, but the new plant will become the main site, with annual production capacity of 600 million batteries. The company said it needs to beef up its production of rechargeable batteries in Japan. The new plant is expected to boost Matsushita’s ability to compete with market leaders Sanyo Electric Co and Sony Corp amid growing demand for the rechargeable power sources commonly used in mobile phones, laptop PCs and digital cameras.
■ TECHNOLOGY
'Cloud' alliance forms
Yahoo and technology giants Intel and Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday announced an alliance to advance “cloud computing,” backing a trend that would reduce reliance on packaged software. Earlier this year Google and IBM teamed up for the same purpose, to advance research into providing software as a service on the Internet hosted by data centers instead of requiring people to install programs on their computers. Yahoo, HP and Intel have partnered with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and universities in the US and Germany to create centers for collaborative research.
■ AVIATION
China Eastern to restart talks
China Eastern Airlines will resume talks over a stuttering share sale with Singapore Airlines after the Olympics, state media reported yesterday. “We will discuss the issue after the Olympics, and all things will become clear then,” said Luo Zhuping (羅祝平), board secretary of China Eastern, in an interview with the China Daily. “Introducing Singapore Airlines can help us improve our financial status and enhance the service quality.”
■ TECHNOLOGY
Nintendo profits surge
Japan’s Nintendo Co said yesterday net profit surged by one third in the fiscal first quarter on brisk sales of its video game consoles, including Wii. The company kept its forecast for another year of record net profits, although the heady pace of growth is set to slow as a stronger yen curbs overseas revenues. Net earnings rose 33.7 percent to ¥107.3 billion (US$993 million) in the three months to last month from a year earlier, a company statement said. Operating profit increased by 31.5 percent to ¥119.2 billion as revenue rose 24.4 percent to ¥423.4 billion. Nintendo said it sold 5.17 million Wii consoles worldwide in the three-month period, an increase of more than 50 percent from a year earlier.
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