■BIOTECHNOLOGY
Monsanto under investigation
The US Justice Department is investigating whether Monsanto Co violated antitrust rules in trying to expand its dominance of the market for genetically engineered crops. Monsanto has provided interviews and documents to the Justice Department, company spokesman Lee Quarles said. He said the department has questioned Monsanto about its marketing tactics in the biotech seed industry, which have been criticized. At issue is how the company sells and licenses its patented genes. Monsanto has licensing agreements with seed companies that let those companies insert Monsanto genes into about 96 percent of US soybean crops and 80 percent of all corn crops. Rivals allege Monsanto uses the licensing agreements to squeeze competitors and control smaller seed companies — an allegation Monsanto denies.
■GERMANY
Consumer prices decline
German consumer prices declined somewhat last month, as did exports during the month of August, official data showed yesterday, evidence that Europe’s largest economy is recovering only gradually. The Federal Statistical Office said German consumer prices fell by 0.3 percent on the year last month, and were 0.4 percent lower compared with August. Meanwhile, exports fell 1.8 percent in August from the previous month and were 20 percent lower compared with August last year. The monthly drop was the first decline after three consecutive months of export gains. The office said Germany exported goods in August valued at 60.4 billion euros (US$88.2 billion), while imports fell more than 19 percent on year-ago levels to 52 billion euros in August.
■RETAIL
Design house in trouble
Japanese fashion design house Yohji Yamamoto says it has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company said yesterday its sales had been battered by sluggish demand amid the global economic slowdown with debts totaling ¥6 billion (US$67 million). Under Japan’s corporate rehabilitation law, the designer house will continue its businesses at home and abroad. The company said designer Yohji Yamamoto will continue his work.
■JAPAN
Orders rise 0.5 percent
Japan’s core machinery orders, a leading indicator of corporate capital spending, rose a smaller-than-expected 0.5 percent in August from the previous month, government data showed yesterday. The result follows a roller-coaster movement of a 9.3 percent drop in July and a 9.7 percent jump in June and was a more moderate rise than the average market forecast for a rise of 2.1 percent. Core machinery orders, compared with a year before, fell 26.5 percent in August following a 34.8 percent drop in July and a 29.7 percent drop in June.
■TECHNOLOGY
Infosys profits fall
Infosys Technologies Ltd. says quarterly profit fell 0.9 percent from a year earlier, but raised its revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending next March. Infosys reported US$317 million in net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 based on international accounting standards, beating its own forecast. Revenues for the period were US$1.15 billion, a 5.1 percent decline from the same period a year earlier but a 2.9 percent improvement from the prior quarter. Infosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan says “the business climate has improved.” Infosys says it expects revenues for the fiscal year to be US$4.6 billion to US$4.62 billion, about 1 percent less than last year, but a more optimistic forecast than it made in July.
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