■ FINANCE
Credit Suisse cuts jobs
Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse on Tuesday said it is cutting 500 more jobs in its investment bank division, bringing the total shed at the unit to 2,000 since the financial crisis began. “Due to market conditions and projected staffing levels required to meet client needs, we are reducing global headcount by approximately 500 across our Investment Banking Division and certain support functions,” Switzerland’s second biggest bank said in a statement. The bank’s spokesman said a deterioration of market conditions had led to the latest cuts as the volume of business handled has been reduced.
■ FINANCE
EU lends to Hungary
EU governments promised to lend Hungary 6.5 billion euros (US$8.1 billion) as part of a 20 billion euro international rescue package to help it weather a financial crisis that has sharply devalued its currency, officials said yesterday. The EU’s 27 finance ministers and the European Commission said in a statement that they would join with the IMF and the World Bank in helping Hungary. The IMF will give 12.5 billion euros and the World Bank another 1 billion euros. In return, Hungary had made a “strong commitment” to prudent budget policies.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Fujitsu cuts forecast by 40%
Fujitsu Ltd, Japan’s biggest computer-services provider, cut its full-year forecast by 40 percent as the weakening global economy depresses demand for semiconductors used in electronics. The company now expects net income of ¥60 billion (US$620 million) in the 12 months to March 31. In July Fujitsu projected that profit would more than double to ¥100 billion this fiscal year.
■ AVIATION
Lufthansa profits drop
Top German airline Lufthansa reported a 75-percent drop in operating profit in the third quarter yesterday to 149 million euros (US$189 million) owing to high fuel costs and a steep drop in sales. The airline had said on Tuesday that it would cut this year’s operating profit target to 1.1 billion euros. Lufthansa’s board “has adjusted the profit expectations to the economic slowdown and the ongoing uncertainties regarding the implications of the financial market crisis,” it said.
■ CHINA
Regulators call on insurers
Regulators yesterday urged the country’s insurance companies to use their position as institutional investors to help stabilize the stock market during the global financial crisis. Insurance companies should make long-term investments to support the steady development of the country’s capital markets, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement. China’s stock market has lost more than two-thirds of its value since the start of the year, which has already lead to massive investment losses for the country’s insurers.
■ RUSSIA
President keeps rubles
President Dmitry Medvedev believes his personal savings are safe despite the global financial crisis, he said in an interview published yesterday amid mounting fears about Russian banks. “I have kept all of my bank accounts. I have not withdrawn any funds, nor have I converted my rubles to dollars,” Medvedev said in response to a reader’s question in the Russian daily newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. Officials have sought to ease worries that global financial turmoil could lead to widespread failures of Russian banks or force a devaluation of the ruble.
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)