■ REAL ESTATE
Investment in Europe dips
Investment in European commercial real estate sank to the lowest in five years in the second quarter because of difficulties in funding deals and as values fell, a study by adviser Cushman & Wakefield Inc said. Investors purchased 25.6 billion euros (US$39.8 billion) in offices, malls and warehouses across Europe in the three months ended June 30, a 62 percent drop from a year earlier, the New York-based firm said in an e-mailed release. Banks’ reluctance to lend following US$481 billion in losses linked to mortgage-related investments and the seizure of global credit markets has triggered a decline in property values across most of Europe. While flows from domestic and international investors were both affected, Romania, Russia and Turkey registered higher investment levels, the report said.
■ ENERGY
UK Coal plans ‘ecotown’
UK Coal PLC, the nation’s largest producer of the fuel, was to display plans for an “ecotown” on the site of a former mine yesterday. The company is proposing a 5,000-home town at Rossington, where coal production ended two-and-a-half years ago, with the public invited to view the plans, the Doncaster-based company said in an e-mailed statement. The plans were revised from a previous 15,000-home development after concerns expressed by the local community, UK Coal said.
■ IRAN
Millions live in poverty
At least 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line, a central bank report quoted by the press yesterday said, amid increasing concern about the welfare of those worst off in Iran. The central bank figures, published in the reformist daily Sarmayeh, represent one in five of Iran’s 70 million population. “If an urban family of four makes less than 4 millions rials (US$425) a month then the family is under poverty line,” it said. In August last year, Social Security and Welfare Minister Abdolreza Mesri said that 9.2 million people were living in poverty.
■ SEMICONDUCTORS
US to ease duties: Hynix
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, said the US planned to reduce levies imposed on the company, which has been paying punitive tariffs for its exports since 2003. The US Department of Commerce, in a preliminary review, decided to lower duties on Hynix chips to 4.9 percent from 23.8 percent, said Park Seong-ae, a spokeswoman for the South Korean firm. A final ruling is expected in November, Hynix said. The US first levied the countervailing duties in 2003 after Micron Technology Inc said a bailout of Hynix by the South Korean government resulted in an illegal subsidy. The EU and Japan also imposed punitive taxes on the company. Hynix and the South Korean government have denied the claims.
■BANKING
China mulls help for SMEs
China is considering establishing state-backed banks focused on lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help boost economic growth, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. The proposal aims to help capital-hungry SMEs through hard times and allow them to secure long-term financing, it said, citing National Development and Reform Commission officials. China’s growing number of SMEs have found it difficult to obtain bank loans because of a lack of collateral and credit records. About 67,000 SMEs closed in the first half of this year because of cash flow problems, commission officials told the newspaper.
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)