■OIL
Prices hit new record high
World oil prices hit a fresh record high point close to US$125 per barrel yesterday, extending this week’s record run after OPEC insisted the market was well-supplied and driven by speculators. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, spiked to a historic US$124.73 per barrel at 0600 GMT in European deals. But it eased later to US$124.24, a rise of US$0.55 from the closing price in New York on Thursday. “The oil market is so overwhelmingly bullish at this point ... it is looking at the US$125 mark as its next target,” said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.
■FOOD
China bans drink, chips
China said yesterday it had banned sales of a soft drink made by Coca-Cola and two flavors of Procter and Gamble’s Pringles potato chips due to fears they contained harmful substances. China’s quality control watchdog reported on its Web site that 593 food items imported in January and February were unfit for consumption after traces of harmful substances were found. Two batches of Pringles “spicy salad sauce” and “crispy baked” flavors, imported from the US by Zhuhai-based Kangrui Trade Company were found to contain potassium bromate, a chemical which may cause cancer. Coca-Cola’s berry-flavored Fanta soft-drink imported by Shanghai Xiaolong Information Trade Company was also banned for containing too much benzoic acid, which can attack the liver and the kidneys.
■OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Konica Minolta to pay up
Japanese office equipment maker Konica Minolta said yesterday that it was ordered to pay a penalty for failing to declare income of some US$17 million. Konica Minolta Holdings Inc said it and its subsidiaries inadvertently concealed ¥1.8 billion (US$17.4 million) in income for two years to March last year. It was ordered to pay some ¥1.2 billion in additional taxes as a penalty, a company spokesman said. The total income that the company failed to declare during the two years, including other cases of accounting errors, amounted to more than ¥2 billion, he said.
■INTERNET
MySpace to allow sharing
Social networking site MySpace said on Thursday it will soon enable users to quickly share profile data with Web sites operated by Yahoo Inc, eBay Inc and others. MySpace aims to save its users keystrokes and allow them to export their photos, videos and lists of friends. “There’s this concept that social networks are walled gardens,” said Amit Kapur, MySpace’s chief operating officer. “We’re taking those walls down.” Other sites that can receive the MySpace data include Twitter and Photobucket.
■INTERNET
Facebook to boost safety
Officials from several US states say Facebook has agreed to implement more than 40 safeguards to protect younger users. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the changes are designed to thwart sexual predators, fraud and online bullies at the popular online hangout. He is one of the attorneys general who announced the agreement on Thursday. Facebook has agreed to ban convicted sex offenders from using the service and will make it harder for older users to search online for subscribers who are under age 18. Facebook will also join a task force seeking better ways to verify the ages of users.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
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