■ OIL
Prices approach US$102
Oil prices hit a record high near US$102 yesterday, lifted by the sliding US dollar and persistent concerns that the OPEC crude cartel could cut output next week. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, touched an historic US$101.98 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for April delivery struck an all-time peak at US$100.45. The US was to release its weekly report on crude oil stockpiles later yesterday. That could spark another move higher, with US$105 per barrel on the horizon, Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob said.
■ CHINA
Inflation target raised
China has raised its inflation target for this year to 4.8 percent in the wake of steeper-than-expected price rises last year and the impact of the worst winter in 50 years, state media said yesterday. The government had aimed to control inflation this year at last year's level, and in December set the target at 4.6 percent, equivalent to the figure for the first 11 months of last year, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. China's inflation surged to an 11-year high of 7.1 percent last month.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Growth target questioned
Just two days after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office, his nominee for finance minister admitted that promises to raise economic growth to 6 percent this year would be hard to achieve. At a confirmation hearing in parliament yesterday, finance minister-designate Kang Man-soo said global economic conditions such as a US slowdown had worsened further since the 6 percent projection. "Difficult as it will be, the government will make supreme efforts, such as tax cuts and deregulation, to come as close as possible to the goal of achieving 6 percent growth," Kang said. The central bank expects growth of 4.7 percent this year.
■ CONSUMER
Price-fixing suspected
Nine European and US consumer products makers, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive, are suspected of price-fixing in France, a newspaper reported yesterday. If found guilty, the companies could face fines of up to 10 percent of their annual worldwide revenue and possibly amounting to billions of euros, Le Figaro said. The suspected collusion is believed to have begun in 2005, the report said. Others said to be suspected include US-based Sara Lee and SC Johnson, as well as Germany's Henkel, and Reckitt Benckiser. The report said the companies were also suspected of sharing information about their customers.
■ ELECTRONICS
Sony to launch new player
Sony Corp's first Blu-ray disc player that can download bonus materials like trailers and games from the Internet will debut this summer, the company said on Tuesday. It will be the first new player from Sony, the inventor of Blu-ray, since the format last week beat out Toshiba Corp's HD DVD technology that vied to become the high-definition replacement for the DVD. The BDP-S350 player Sony plans to introduce this summer for "about US$400" will be the company's first to feature an Ethernet port, allowing it to connect to a home broadband connection. However, it won't be able to access Internet content when it ships -- a software upgrade will be available later to enable that feature, known as BD-Live.
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)