■ Companies
Whitman quits Disney race
EBay Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman has withdrawn as a candidate to replace Michael Eisner as Walt Disney Co's chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the search. Whitman met with the board earlier this week, and has decided to stay at the largest Internet auctioneer because Disney had taken longer than promised to make a choice of the new chief executive, the newspaper said today, citing the person. She telephoned an unidentified Disney board member last night to take her name out of consideration, the newspaper said. She was the only external candidate being considered by the board, the Journal said.
■ Cellphones
Motorola to release A1000
Cellphone giant Motorola will release its long-awaited update of the Motorola A925 this month. The Motorola A1000, as it will be called, is a 3G smartphone targeted at business users who need access to e-mail, Web sites, documents and contacts while on the road. The cellphone includes a program that allows users to work with documents from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files. The stylish unit sports a high-resolution TFT display that can display 65,000 colors. The A1000 also boasts a touchscreen that supports handwriting recognition for the use of a "virtual keyboard." As if that's not enough, the A1000 also has a built-in digital camera capable of taking 1.2 megapixel images, an MP3 player, as well as a GPS positioning system. Pricing is expected to be under US$1,000.
■ Economics
S Koreans spend on credit
South Korean credit card spending rose for a second consecutive month last month, official data showed yesterday, amid signs of an economic recovery backed by improving consumer sentiment. The spending jumped 8.5 percent year-on-year to 13.5 trillion won (US$13.5 billion) last month, according to Finance and Economy Ministry figures. In January, it was up 15 percent. In the first two months of this year, the overall credit card usage increased 11.7 percent year-on-year to 28.2 trillion won, the data showed. South Korea's central bank said last week the country's economic recovery was proceeding faster than expected with consumer sentiment improving markedly after a protracted slump. Bank of Korea governor Park Seung said on Thursday that the economy already "entered a gradual recovery phase from the first quarter," a quarter earlier than previously expected.
■ Aero industry
Malaysia Airlines gets flak
Malaysia Airlines has come under fire for its policies on hiring women after a former stewardess who was sacked for falling pregnant lost a long-running legal battle to win her job back. The national carrier sacked Beatrice Fernandez in 1991 after she refused to comply with company rules by resigning after becoming pregnant. After a nearly 14-year legal battle, Malaysia's highest court rejected her petition to review the airline's working conditions, which have been amended to say stewardesses can have only two children and must resign at 45, the Sunday Star newspaper said. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil urged the airline to review its "archaic" policies as soon as possible.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
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