■ FINANCE
S Korea to set up fund
The South Korean government said yesterday it would set up a 40 trillion won (US$27 billion) fund to buy bad loans from financial firms and purchase assets from ailing companies. The finance ministry disclosed details of a restructuring fund that was announced last month amid growing jitters about the global economic downturn. State-run Korea Asset Management Corp will issue government-guaranteed bonds to buy bad loans from financial firms and assets from ailing firms that will be restructured by creditors, the ministry said. It said the government would seek approval from parliament next month to revise related laws.
■ BANKING
Citi says capital enough
Citigroup Inc chairman Richard Parsons said on Thursday that the bank did not need any more capital injections from the government and expressed confidence that Citi would remain in private hands. Asked in an interview whether Citigroup needed additional government capital injections, Parsons said: “No, I think actually, particularly with the latest conversion ... Citi is actually one of the better capitalized banks in the world.” Parsons was speaking on the sidelines of a Business Roundtable event where US President Barack Obama addressed business executives. He also brushed aside any prospect of the US government nationalizing the giant bank. “I don’t think the administration is heading in that direction,” Parsons said. “But I have a lot of confidence in the future viability and strength of a privately held Citi.”
■ TELECOMS
Google offers transcription
Internet search giant Google on Thursday expanded its push into the telephone market, offering a service that provides a single number for home, work and cellphones and turns voicemail into e-mail. Google Voice automatically transcribes voicemail messages into e-mail or SMS text messages and provides a transcript in a user’s e-mail inbox on their mobile phone or computer. “When you receive a voicemail Google Voice will automatically transcribe it into text so you can read what the voicemail is about,” Google said in an instructional video on the company blog. It warned, however, that since the transcripts are “fully automated” through voice recognition technology, they “may include mistakes.”
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota plans cheap hybrid
Toyota plans a low-cost hybrid to challenge Honda’s success with the cheapest model on the market — a move that could spark a price war over the fuel-efficient cars, the Nikkei Shimbun said yesterday. Toyota’s new gas and electric-powered hybrid will have a price tag of below ¥2 million (US$20,500) — about 20 percent to 30 percent cheaper than its Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid, the daily said. Toyota will initially launch the vehicle in Japan as early as 2011 with a smaller engine than the 1.5-liter Prius, it said without naming its sources. Toyota refused to comment on the report.
■ TELECOMS
New iPhone OS next week
Apple plans to give the world a peek next week at its next-generation operating system for iPhones. The company on Thursday invited news reporters to a “town hall” event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, and promised a “sneak peek” at the upcoming iPhone 3.0 operating system. It said the event would center on a new software developers kit for its popular multi-purpose mobile devices.
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
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘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)