■FINANCE
Berlin seeks to extend ban
Germany wants to extend a ban on naked short selling that angered other countries last week to cover all shares listed on its stock exchanges, according to government documents seen on Tuesday. Berlin now wants to extend the ban to include naked short selling all shares traded in Germany and euro currency derivatives not intended for hedging risk, a finance ministry discussion paper showed. The proposals are set to be discussed by the cabinet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week and include a new “transparency system” for short sales.
■BANKING
HSBC chief denies rumors
HSBC chairman Stephen Green is set to quash speculation his resignation is imminent, telling shareholders that there is no timetable for his departure, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Green, 61, has told friends he plans to stay in the post for another year or two and will deliver the message in a speech at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting tomorrow, according to the paper. Yesterday’s news contradicted reports on the weekend that Green would step down from his role later this year.
■MINING
Consortium bids on railway
A mining consortium including industry giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto launched a A$4.85 billion (US$4 billion) bid for a publicly owned Australian coal rail network yesterday. The companies, also including Brazil’s Vale, China’s Yanzhou Coal (兗州煤業), Swiss company Xstrata and US firm Peabody, are aiming to head off plans to sell shares in the railway on the stock market. The consortium is touting its offer as a better alternative to the A$3 billion the state government is planning to raise through the share offering.
■FASHION
Burberry returns to profit
Luxury fashion company Burberry Group PLC yesterday said it returned to a profit for the full year as it benefited from restructuring efforts and increased retail operations. For the year ending March 31, Burberry reported a net profit of £82.2 million (US$118.2 million), compared with a loss of £5.1 million a year earlier. Revenue was up 6.5 percent to £1.28 billion. In the current year, Burberry plans to open up to 30 new stores, mainly in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region.
■BREWERIES
Fosters splits beer and wine
Australian drinks giant Foster’s said yesterday it intends to split its more profitable beer division from its wine business, acknowledging the products have different markets and strategies. Chief executive Ian Johnston said no decision had been made on the structure or timing of the demerger, which could pave the way for a takeover of either business. Johnston said the wine division was affected by oversupply in Australia, subdued consumer demand globally and a strong Australian dollar this year.
■TECHNOLOGY
Kindle stays black-and-white
Amazon’s Kindle, facing competition from Apple’s multi-purpose iPad, will remain a dedicated e-book reader and a color model is “some way out,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on Tuesday at Amazon’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Seattle. The iPad has a color LCD display compared with the black-and-white Kindle, which uses electronic ink technology. Bezos said the LCD screen “comes with significant drawbacks for long-form reading.”
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