■AVIATION
Northrop wants bid changes
Northrop Grumman Corp said on Tuesday it wouldn’t bid on a huge contract to make a new Air Force tanker plane unless the US Defense Department changed the rules. Northrop, which had partnered with Airbus on its bid, has been tussling for years with Boeing Co over a contract worth at least US$35 billion to build 179 new Air Force tankers. The Pentagon had circulated a draft of its request for proposals. Northrop said it asked for revisions on Nov. 4, but the Pentagon said the revisions would not be included. Without those changes, Northrop “cannot submit a bid” for the tanker program, it said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Daimler shifts production
German luxury car maker Daimler said yesterday it would manufacture its popular C Class automobiles at a US plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The move, which drew protests from Daimler workers on Tuesday, does not signal a major shift in Daimler’s strategy, CEO Dieter Zetsche said in a statement. The group also plans to shift work on its SL sport models to the core southwestern German plant in Sindelfingen, where workers had demonstrated, and to focus on making C Class cars for the European market in northern Bremen.
■AUTOMOBILES
US auto sales expand
US auto sales rose last month, extending a modest recovery for the troubled sector amid mixed results for the ailing domestic manufacturers, statistics from market researcher Autodata showed on Tuesday. Overall industry sales of 746,000 in the month translated to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 10.93 million vehicles, Autodata said. That was a modest improvement from 10.46 million in October and 10.41 million in November last year.
■AUTOMOBILES
Check car mats: Japan
Japan warned drivers to check floor mats in their vehicles to make sure they are properly installed after receiving 16 reports of problems over a decade, a government official said yesterday. The warning was issued on Tuesday by the Consumer Affairs Agency as part of a report to consumers about the floor mat problem in Toyota Motor Corp vehicles in the US. Toyota announced a massive recall last month in the US affecting more than 4 million vehicles to replace gas pedals that can get stuck in floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
■MARKETS
Gartner to acquire AMR
Gartner Inc, the research firm that tracks and forecasts computer and telecom sales, has agreed to acquire AMR Research Inc for about US$64 million in cash to add to its consulting business and expertise in supply-chain management. Gartner will finance the purchase with cash reserves and existing credit lines, a statement from the company on Tuesday said. The firm is adding services after clients reduced spending on research and consulting projects, contributing to three consecutive quarters of sales declines.
■INTERNET
Facebook users surge 15%
Users of Facebook Inc, the world’s most popular social-networking Web site, rose more than 15 percent in the past two-and-a-half months, said CEO Zuckerberg, who estimated Facebook had 300 million members in mid-September. More than 350 million people have signed up to the service, the Palo Alto, California-based company’s Web log said. Facebook also plans to revise its privacy settings by removing regional networks, it said.
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