El Salvador trade deal to be suspended‘LIMITED IMPACT’: Premier Chen Chien-jen instructed ministries to help Taiwanese businesses explore other markets and procure goods from other FTA countriesStaff writer, with CNATaiwan would suspend implementation of a free-trade agreement (FTA) with El Salvador from Monday following a decision by the former diplomatic ally to repeal it, the Executive Yuan said on Thursday. The 2018 announcement was challenged in El Salvador, but its government received a favorable final ruling on Nov. 7, 2022, and subsequently announced the end of favorable tariffs on Taiwanese goods. Exports from Taiwan to El Salvador last year totaled US$81.58 million, or 0.02 percent of Taiwan’s overall exports, while imports from the Central American country totaled US$18.83 million, or 0.004 percent. Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) told lawmakers on March 29 that the trade agreement is not linked to diplomatic ties. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told lawmakers the following day that the fate of the trade agreement would be discussed with Taiwan’s foreign ministry.

Astronomers puzzled by largest ever cosmic blastAFP, PARISAstronomers yesterday said they have identified the largest cosmic explosion ever observed, a fireball 100 times the size of the solar system that suddenly began blazing in a distant universe more than three years ago. An illustration from Feb. 27, 2017, shows a tidal disruption event, which astronomers said could have caused AT2021lwx, the largest cosmic explosion ever observed. It was only when astronomers, including Wiseman, looked at it through more powerful telescopes that they realized what they had on their hands. Another possibility is what is called a tidal disruption event, when a star is torn apart as it is sucked into a supermassive black hole. The only somewhat comparable bright cosmic event is a quasar, when supermassive black holes swallow huge amounts of gas in the center of galaxies.

An Adani Group building is pictured on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, on April 13. A representative for the Adani Group declined to comment on the fundraising details. MSCI said that two Adani Group companies — Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas Ltd — would be excluded from its India gauge at the end of this month. “Especially Adani Transmission, where there could also be some fundraising,” he added. An analysis by Bloomberg of exchange filings showed that Adani Enterprises and Adani Transmission have sought board approval for fundraising every year in April or May since at least 2019.

Japan, S Korea eye expert visit to FukushimaAPOfficials from Japan and South Korea yesterday discussed a visit by South Korean experts to the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant before it begins the controversial release of treated, but radioactive, water into the sea. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, right, shakes hands with South Korean Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se in Tokyo on March 27. South Korean Government Policy Coordination Office vice head Park Ku-yeon said Japan was reluctant to accept private experts, as it sees it as a government-to-government matter. Neighboring countries, including Taiwan, South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns. South Korea and China ban food imports from Fukushima and describe the water as “contaminated” instead of “treated,” despite Tokyo’s repeated protests.

Softbank records US$7.2bn full-year loss on tech woesAFP, TOKYOSoftbank Group Corp yesterday reported an annual net loss of US$7.2 billion after a bruising year for the tech start-up sector in which it is heavily invested. The Vision Fund 1 and 2 vehicles were hit by the global tech rout, the company said in a statement. Photo: Reuters“Share prices of numerous public portfolio companies declined for the fiscal year amid the weakness in global stock markets, although share prices of several companies rose in the fourth quarter,” it said. Softbank Group billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, who for years touted AI as a revolutionary force in the way we use technology, gathered a group of engineers recently and spoke about ChatGPT’s possibilities, Miyakawa said. “We are dead positive on ChatGPT,” Miyakawa said.

Photo: APBut its legacy is worth remembering — and audiences will get a chance to learn more about its origins in the new film, BlackBerry. It’s the latest movie or TV series to delve into technology’s penchant for groundbreaking innovation, blind ambition, ego clashes and power struggles that turn into morality tales. “I think when he sees the film he is going to be quite charmed by how much of his original notes are in the film,” Johnson said of Wandel. Unlike Lazaridis and Fregin, Balsillie attended a recent showing of the film in Toronto and even walked the red carpet with Johnson and Howerton. “In many ways, (Jim) was the hero, he was the character who changed for the better (in the film),” Johnson said.

Racial discrimination continues to take place in Taiwan, and the school incident seemingly reflects a culture of complicity that allows it to happen repeatedly. The school incident, along with the other discriminatory incidents against indigenous people, reflects a core issue: Is society complicit in perpetuating such racial discrimination? From Kellner’s perspective, racial discrimination is no longer a problem in competitions, education, workplace or media, but a problem of society as a whole, and many people in our society remain blind to racial discrimination. If Taiwanese think that racial discrimination is an important issue, the Ministry of Education should promote ethnic education in high schools and universities. If the government sits back and watches racial discrimination occur again and again, then we will all become complicit in allowing mainstream culture to keep on bullying indigenous people.

Toyota full-year profit beats forecastGROWTH AHEAD: The auto titan expects net profit this fiscal year to increase 5% on improvements in semiconductor supply and the efforts of its production sitesAFP, TOKYOTop-selling automaker Toyota Motor Corp yesterday said that its full-year net profit beat expectations, and projected better sales and revenue for the year ahead as supply chain disruptions ease. The Japanese firm reported ￥2.45 trillion (US$18.12 billion) in net profit for the fiscal year ended March, down 14 percent from a year earlier, but better than its projections of ￥2.36 trillion. China is one of the world’s largest auto markets, with about 30 million vehicles sold annually, and it is pivoting rapidly to EVs. That means the question of how Japanese automakers, including Toyota, would “retake their competitive lead in China” is of “paramount importance,” Takada said. Sato said that Toyota is committed to China’s EV market, while insisting hybrid demand would remain strong.

Industrial and service sectors hire 4,000 in MarchBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe number of employees hired by the industrial and service sectors in March edged up 0.03 percent, or by 4,000 people, to 8.17 million, while inflation continued to erode wage gains, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. Hiring activity picked up among construction firms, as well as science, technology and healthcare service providers, more than offsetting headcount reductions at local manufacturers, the statistics agency said. “The manufacturing industry has borne the brunt of an ongoing global economic slowdown” induced by inflation and monetary tightening, Census Department Deputy Director Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣) said. A street vendor prepares to open for business at the Miaokou Night Market in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District yesterday. In the first quarter, take-home pay rose 2.41 percent annually to NT$45,286 and total wages grew 2.36 percent to NT$64,796, the agency said.

Girlfriend of poisoning victim barred from exitLOVERS’ SPAT? Media reports said the woman had prepared the rat poison for herself after quarreling with Alex Shorey, but that he had accidentally ingested it The girlfriend of an Australian man who was sickened by rat poison has been ordered not to leave the country, Taipei prosecutors said yesterday, after reports that she told prosecutors she had prepared the poison for herself. Australian Alex Shorey, 24, left Taiwan on Wednesday on a medical evacuation flight bound for Queensland, where he is continuing to receive treatment after ingesting the rat poison superwarfarin. Authorities searched the residence of Shorey’s Taiwanese girlfriend on Wednesday as the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office opened an investigation into the case. Also conducting investigations are the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division and Xinyi Precinct, whichBy Chien Li-chung

S Korea, Japan, US seek deal to track N Korean missilesAP, TOKYOJapan, the US and South Korea are negotiating an agreement on sharing real-time data on North Korean missile launches, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said yesterday. “The security environment surrounding Japan and South Korea is becoming more severe and more complex, and coordination between the two countries, as well as trilaterally with the United States, has become increasingly important,” he said. A missile is launched at an undisclosed location in an image taken from videoand released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. Leaders of the three countries in November last year agreed to speed up information sharing on North Korean missile launches. Japanese and South Korean defense ministers would hold bilateral talks during the conference, the newspaper said.

Chinese exports grew 8.5 percent year-on-year last month to US$295.4 billion despite weakening global demand. Photo: APEconomists in a Reuters poll had predicted no growth in imports and an 8 percent increase in exports. Other data showed that South Korean exports to China, a leading indicator of China’s imports, were down 26.5 percent last month, continuing 10 consecutive months of decline. China’s coal imports fell last month from a 15-month high the prior month, while imports of copper — a proxy for global growth — and natural gas were also down in the same period. “The contraction of imports may be partly driven by the slowdown of global demand, which in turn affects China’s imports of parts and components for the processing of exports,” Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd (保銀私募基金管理) chief economist Zhiwei Zhang (張智威) said.

Adjusting to life after COVID-19By Chen Chiao-chicy 陳喬琪On April 30, the Central Epidemic Command Center was disbanded, and from Monday last week, the status of COVID-19 was downgraded from a category 5 notifiable communicable disease to category 4. In other words, three years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan’s disease control measures have officially been removed. On the other hand, many never caught COVID-19, but during the pandemic, they experienced anxiety and depression. As a result of disease control measures, many employees were required to work from home and communicate with the outside world through the Internet. The government must do more to communicate with the public, so that people can appreciate its disease control measures.

Two dead after MiG jet flies into Indian house‘FLYING COFFINS’: Russian-made MiG jets first entered Indian service in the 1960s, but questions about their safety record has risen following numerous crashesAFP, NEW DELHITwo people on the ground died after a Russian-made MiG-21 military aircraft crashed onto a house in India yesterday, police said. The Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the crash and that the pilot ejected. Photo :AFP“A MiG-21 aircraft of the IAF crashed near Suratgarh during a routine training sortie today morning,” the IAF wrote on Twitter. That crash was the sixth MiG-21 aircraft to have gone down since January 2021, with five pilots killed. Russian-made MiG-21 jets first entered Indian service in the 1960s and for decades served as the backbone of the nation’s air force.

TPP not looking for backroom deals, Ko saysBy Huang Ching-hsuan / Staff reporterA coalition between the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the pan-blue camp should be based on shared political values and ideas, not on the hope of making backroom deals or negotiating over legislative seats, TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je, center, gestures after registering for the party’s presidential primary at the TPP headquarters in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesThe former Taipei mayor yesterday said that cooperation is still possible if the two parties share the same ideas and values. Although former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) is a good candidate, the TPP might want to extend its influence by looking at someone else, he said. TPP presidential primary candidates were required to register between April 27 and yesterday, and it planned to hold a primary today, if necessary.