■ UNITED KINGDOM
Brown promises new jobs
Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged to create at least 100,000 new jobs through a £10 billion (US$14.9 billion) investment on infrastructure, in a newspaper interview published yesterday. The money would be spent over the next two years on education, transport and other infrastructure projects, the Daily Mirror said. “School building repairs and school building alone will employ about 100,000,” he told the newspaper. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits leapt last month by the biggest monthly amount for more than 17 years, official data showed, soaring by 75,700 from October to 1.07 million people. The Mirror said his plans would be unveiled in the new year. Brown has promised to boost spending through borrowing to through the downturn. This has put him at odds with the main opposition Conservatives who argue he is simply creating a tax “timebomb” for the future.
■ELECTRONICS
RIM pans Certicom plan
Research In Motion Ltd (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry handheld device, said Certicom Corp planned to file for an injunction to block its takeover offer. Certicom intends to lodge an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Securities Commission, RIM said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. The BlackBerry maker said on Dec. 3 that it planned to buy all outstanding shares of Certicom for C$1.50 apiece in cash, or 76 percent more than the stock’s previous close. After RIM made its offer, Certicom urged shareholders to take no action until the Mississauga, Ontario-based security-software company completes its review of the C$66 million (US$54 million) bid and issues an opinion by next Monday. RIM, whose offer is open until Jan. 15, plans to “vigorously oppose Certicom’s allegations” that it used confidential information and didn’t make a proper disclosure regarding the planned acquisition.
■CHINA
Foreign exchange falls
Beijing’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, have fallen for the first time in five years, media quoted a senior forex official as saying. “The forex reserves have fallen for the first time since December 2003,” said Cai Qiusheng (蔡秋生), an official at the capital account management department under the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Foreign exchange reserves topped US$1.9 trillion at the end of September, central bank figures show. Cai did not give a new figure for China’s current forex reserves, according to the transcript of his weekend speech, which was carried by the Sina.com Web site.
■AUTOMOTIVE
Tata to support Land Rover
India’s Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, has agreed to inject “tens of millions” of pounds into the British car company to tide it over while London considers a bail-out, reports said yesterday. The Financial Times, quoting people close to Tata, said the emergency aid was intended to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis. It comes on top of “hundreds of millions” of working capital provided since Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in March, the business daily said. UK Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson said last week that the British government has talked to Jaguar Land Rover about a possible bailout as the car company struggles with the economic downturn, but no decisions had been taken. The FT said Tata still expected the taxpayer to provide longer-term support for Jaguar Land Rover, to protect thousands of jobs in Britain.
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