■ Oil
Jittery market rebounds
Oil prices rebounded yesterday after a steep fall the previous day as continued fighting in the Middle East added jitters to a market already edgy about tight supplies. Escalating fighting between Israel and militants in Lebanon has no direct effect on oil supplies, but it has sparked worries that Iran, a financial backer of Hezbollah and OPEC's No. 2 supplier, could be drawn into the conflict. Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose US$0.50 to US$75.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of mid-afternoon in Singapore. September Brent crude futures on London's ICE Futures exchange rose US$0.33 to US$76.25 a barrel.
■ Electronics
TVs to be made in Russia
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said yesterday that it will start making liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs in Russia from September, in a bid to gain access to the emerging market. The manufacturer of the Panasonic-brand electronics said it will start supplying key components such as LCD panels from Japan to a local maker in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, which will assemble the parts and sell TVs under Matsushita's brand name. No other details were immediately available.
■ Internet
Yahoo offers financial tool
Yahoo unveiled new financial tools for investors on Monday and invited users worldwide to submit videos inspired by the Web site's new look. The Internet search engine said that it expected to finish the re-design of its www.yahoo.com home page this month. To celebrate the Web site's makeover, Yahoo invited students from the London Film Academy, Parsons School of Design in New York, the San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University to create humorous videos based on the theme. Yahoo made the short films available for viewing at the Web site video.yahoo.com on Monday and invited visitors to submit their own original videos.
■ Entertainment
Movielink in DVD deal
Movielink LLC has licensed technology that allows the online movie service's customers to transfer downloaded films to DVDs for playback on standard DVD players. The deal announced on Monday with Sonic Solutions clears a technological hurdle for Santa Monica-based Movielink, but the company still lacks permission from Hollywood studios to offer their movies for DVD burning. Movielink is jointly owned and operated by five Hollywood studios -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios began renting films online several years ago as a way to combat illegal downloading. The rentals last just 24 hours for viewing, primarily on computer screens.
■ Steel
Mittal, Nippon retain ties
Mittal Steel and Nippon Steel agreed to continue a business partnership in the first top-level meeting between the companies since Mittal's takeover offer for Arcelor was accepted last month, officials and news reports said. Visiting Mittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal and his counterpart at Nippon Steel, Akio Mimura, met on Sunday in Kyoto, the Japanese company said yesterday, but refused to provide further details.
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
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
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
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source