■AUTOMOBILES
Honda plants closed
Japan’s Honda Motor said yesterday two of its assembly plants in China remained closed because of a strike at an exhaust parts maker operated by a subsidiary, contrary to earlier media reports. “The two [Honda] factories remain closed. There is no certainty as to when we can resume operations,” a Honda spokeswoman said, denying an earlier Chinese state media report that the dispute had been resolved. Honda’s two assembly plants run by Guangqi Honda have been closed since Monday.
■FINANCE
No pressure from Noda
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said yesterday he would not pressure the Bank of Japan to step up its anti-deflation efforts, marking a different approach to his combative predecessor Naoto Kan, who is now prime minister. The newly appointed finance minister said he did not favor intervening in currency markets or pressuring the central bank to commit itself to targeting a particular level of inflation, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Noda’s remarks suggest his approach toward the goal of ending deflation may be more restrained than that of Kan, who openly called for a weaker yen and often heaped pressure on central bankers.
■ECONOMY
Finland back in recession
Finland slipped back into recession in the first quarter as its GDP contracted for the second quarter in a row. GDP in the first quarter fell 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last year and 0.8 percent from a year ago, Statistics Finland said in a statement yesterday. In the fourth quarter of last year, GDP slipped 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, the statement said, revising an earlier figure of flat growth. It also revised the year-on-year fall for the fourth quarter to 5.2 percent, from a previously given 5.1 percent.
■ENERGY
BP chairman takes hot seat
BP PLC shareholders would prefer to sacrifice the company’s chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, rather than the CEO over the ongoing oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, the London Times reported yesterday. BP chief executive Tony Hayward has faced intense criticism in the US with US President Barack Obama saying on Tuesday he wanted to know “whose ass to kick” over the massive April 20 oil spill, an ecological and economic catastrophe.
■TRANSPORTATION
Hitachi UK project derailed
Japanese high-tech giant Hitachi said yesterday that a multibillion-dollar deal in Britain to build railway cars could be partially canceled because of a spending squeeze by a new government in London. A Hitachi spokesman said the company was waiting for Britain’s decision after a review of the project, which the company expected to receive in a matter of days. The British government last year chose the Japanese firm to spearhead the project, originally to be confirmed in March.
■AUTOMOBILES
GM recalls 1.5m cars
General Motors Co (GM) said on Tuesday it was recalling about 1.5 million vehicles worldwide to address a problem with a heated windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire, its second recall over the issue in two years. The recall affects several pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, crossovers and passenger cars for model years from 2006 to last year. GM conducted a similar recall in 2008, but came across new reports of fires in vehicles that had been fixed.
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)