■AUTOMOBILES
Magna joins Opel talks
Germany will hold talks in the coming days with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International on taking a stake in General Motors’ (GM) European unit Opel, Der Spiegel magazine said on Saturday. “Magna is a potentially interesting partner,” it quoted Economy Minister Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg as saying, in a report to appear in its next issue today. On Friday, the head of the regional government in Hesse, where Opel is headquartered, cited Magna as well as Italian automaker Fiat as a possible investor in Opel. GM, fighting for its own survival, is looking for an investor in Opel with a view to eventually spinning it off. In a statement on Friday, Fiat affirmed it has made no offer so far for Opel.
■CHINA
Stimulus money on the way
Beijing is preparing to spend 70 billion yuan (US$10.3 billion) in the next portion of its previously announced stimulus plan, a state newspaper reported. The planned investment, which will be mainly used on infrastructure projects, will be announced within a week, the Economic Observer said on Saturday, citing an unidentified official from the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning body. The investment will be the latest slice of a US$586 billion package announced in November.
■TECHNOLOGY
Copying may cause harm
Illegally copying music and movies or cracking software code might let you bring home games and movie for free, but experts say this is against the law and poses a possible danger for your computer. Downloading software that allows illegal copying sometimes means you’re also installing viruses onto your computer, reports Trend Micro, an IT security consulting firm. Hackers use this method to spread their viruses via illegal copies. Hackers are also setting their sights on Mac computers. In recent months, malware has been included in illegal copies of programs like Apple iWorks 2009 and Adobe Photoshop for Mac.
■AUTOMOBILES
S Korean car exports drop
South Korean car exports fell sharply in the first quarter because of weak demand amid the global economic downturn, an association of local carmakers said yesterday. The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a report carried by the Yonhap news agency that car shipments dropped 47.4 percent year-on-year by value to US$4.37 billion for the first quarter. The number of cars shipped overseas also fell 36.5 percent year-on-year to 436,285 during the period, the report said. The bigger-than-expected sales drop by value was because of a growing number of shoppers opting for small cars, rather than higher value large sedans or sports-utility vehicles, it said.
■TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft urges updates
Microsoft has eliminated 23 vulnerabilities in its Windows and Office products. Users of those programs should install the corresponding security updates as soon as possible, the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) in Bonn, central Germany, is advising. This can be handled by activating automatic updates in the Windows Security Center or visiting Microsoft’s update site at update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate. This month’s batch of patches, as the updates are known, close security holes in WordPad, the office text converter, Excel, the DirectShow/DirectX graphics components and various services built in to Windows.
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