■ Oil Industry
Shell settles lawsuit
The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies said yesterday that it has agreed to pay US$90 million to settle a US lawsuit related to its writedown of its oil and gas reserves last year. Shell said about US$25 million of the class-action settlement, brought by employees participating in some retirement savings plans, will be covered by insurance. The Anglo-Dutch oil company shocked investors last year when it confessed that its oil and gas reserves -- its most precious asset -- were around 25 percent lower than previously stated. The scandal cost the company almost US$150 million in fines imposed by US and British regulators and led to the sacking of three senior executives.
■ Stock markets
Nikkei hits 13-week high
Japanese stocks rose yesterday to a fresh 13-week high as traders bought semiconductor-related and other blue-chip issues, helped by solid gains overnight on Wall Street. The dollar was lower against the yen. The Nikkei 225 index rose 17.35 points, or 0.15 percent, to 11,692.14, its highest close since the April 11 finish of 11,745.64 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. The broader TOPIX index rose 0.99 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,186.01. Stocks rose moderately as investors welcomed US stock gains overnight. Semiconductor issues such as Fujitsu Ltd and Toshiba finished higher.
■ Development
UN official investigated
The Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, has begun a criminal investigation of the UN official who headed the US$67 billion Iraq oil-for-food program, a spokesman said on Monday. No details were given of the investigation of the official, Benon Sevan, but Barbara Thompson, spokeswoman for Morgenthau confirmed it was taking place. Sevan, a Cypriot and veteran UN senior staff member, is also the subject of an intensive investigation by Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, for allegedly steering allocations of Iraq oil to a trading company while he was in charge of the program. Sevan has denied the charges.
■ Beverage market
Are China's beers safe?
Japan's health ministry has asked importers of Chinese beers, which are increasingly popular here, to confirm the drinks are safe after reports they contain a cancer-causing agent, officials said yesterday. "We have told quarantine offices to ask the importers to check the ingredients" with all manufacturers of Chinese beer, a health ministry official said. Japan's 31 quarantine offices will make the move after a report in the South Korean daily Joong-Ang Ilbo that Chinese beers contain large amounts of formaldehyde, a potentially cancer-causing chemical which Japan bans in food.
■ Real estate
China's market cooling
China's overheated property market is showing signs of cooling in 35 cities as government curbs on the sector bite. Urban housing prices rose 8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, 1.8 percentage points less than in the January to March period, the Shanghai Morning Post cited the National Development and Reform Commission as saying. Government measures announced in April aimed at cooling unrestrained growth in the sector were proving effective in deflating what is widely believed to be a major bubble, the commission said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft