■ICELAND
PM accuses UK of ‘bullying’
Prime Minister Geir Haarde accused Britain in an interview yesterday of “bullying a small neighbour” over funds frozen in the online bank Icesave, and threatened to take legal action in response. Haarde told the Financial Times that London’s reaction to the collapse of the bank, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s threat to sue Iceland to recover British savings, had made the island’s banking crisis worse. “The UK authorities have said they will sue us ... well both countries can sue if they see it fit. Going to court is one way of settling disputes in a civilized way,” Haarde told the newspaper. Brown’s government used anti-terrorist laws to freeze the assets of failing Icelandic banks in Britain as it attempted to protect the deposits of thousands of British savers and public bodies. But Haarde rejected suggestions his government had abandoned British savers, saying: “To claim we were running away from our obligations was unfounded and reacting in this way ... caused us more damage than was necessary.” He said London’s move to put part of Icelandic bank Kaupthing’s British operations into administration “led to the collapse” of the parent bank. He said he would support Kaupthing’s plans to sue the British government.
■ELECTRONICS
Royal Philips slows buyback
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s biggest television maker, said it will slow down its 5 billion euros (US$6.8 billion) share buyback after third-quarter sales fell short of analysts’ estimates. Philips will reduce the pace of purchases because of “the risks and opportunities presented by the deterioration of the economy and the financial market turbulence,” the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement yesterday. Third-quarter sales fell 2 percent to 6.33 billion euros, missing the median estimate from 12 analysts of 6.71 billion euros. Net income rose 7.9 percent on the sale of shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Philips, led by chief executive officer Gerard Kleisterlee, said it’s “cautious on end-market demand” this quarter as the economy weakens further. Philips will increase some prices and accelerate expense-reduction projects across the company to protect margins at a cost of as much as 230 million euros in the fourth quarter. Philips said it has a “strong balance sheet” after completing 3.1 billion euros of the buyback since December. “The slowdown of the buyback is logical,” Wing-Yen Choi, an analyst at Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers NV in Amsterdam, wrote in a note. “In these markets you can buy back your shares, but apparently the stock can drop even further the next day.” Philips fell 2.4 percent to 15.41 euros at 10:30am in Amsterdam yesterday, as the Amsterdam Exchanges Index jumped 6.2 percent.
■AVIATION
Jetstar expands routes
Australian budget carrier Jetstar Airways announced yesterday that it was expanding services on the highly competitive routes across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. Jetstar, a low-cost subsidiary of Qantas Airways, said it would start daily flights on April 28 from Auckland to Sydney and the Queensland Gold Coast. Chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the flights would complement Qantas’ four daily Auckland-Sydney services, and he did not see the parent carrier scaling back its New Zealand routes. Jetstar already flies between Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island and four Australian cities. Trans-Tasman services are also flown by Air New Zealand, the Virgin subsidiary Pacific Blue and Dubai-based Emirates
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