■ ENERGY
AED sells Timor Sea stake
Australia’s AED Oil said yesterday it had sold a 60 percent stake in its Timor Sea oil fields to Sinopec (中國石化), the second-largest crude producer in energy-hungry China. AED chairman David Dix said that under the US$561 million deal, AED and Sinopec would form a joint venture company to develop assets including the Puffin and Talbot fields in the Timor Sea. AED estimates its Timor Sea oil reserves at 100 million barrels.
■ ENERGY
Shell facility attacked
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell halted production yesterday at a major offshore oil facility in Nigeria because of a militant attack, a spokesman said. “We shut down production at the Bonga oil field following an attack by unknown militants this morning,” Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said. The attack was the latest in a series targeting the oil major. Last week, Shell said it would not be able to honor contracts for this and next month from its Bonny terminal after a militant group sabotaged its key crude supply pipelines back in April.
■ AGRICULTURE
Japanese giant grows food
Japanese retail giant Seven & I Holdings Co said yesterday that it would enter the farming business to produce its own vegetables amid growing consumer concerns about food safety. The group will grow vegetables in cooperation with farmers in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo to sell at its Ito-Yokado supermarket chain, the second largest in Japan, a company spokesman said. The company, which also operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, will grow vegetables such as cabbages, radishes, carrots and spinach on 2 hectares of land in cooperation with the farmers.
■ AGRICULTURE
Mexican firms freeze prices
Food manufacturers promised Mexico’s government on Wednesday that they would freeze prices on more than 150 food products to help families cope with rising costs. Mexican President Felipe Calderon said prices for goods such as beans, canned tuna, fruit juices, coffee, ketchup and canned tomatoes would remain fixed until Dec. 31. “This is a measure that will positively and directly benefit the finances of millions of Mexicans,” Calderon said, flanked by representatives of Mexico’s business chambers. “This reflects the commitment of Mexican businessmen to the country and to price stability.”
■ TOBACCO
UK firm cuts jobs
British group Imperial Tobacco said yesterday it would cut 2,440 jobs worldwide, including 1,060 positions in France, as part of a restructuring after the takeover of French-Spanish firm Altadis. “The enlarged group employs around 40,000 people worldwide. The restructuring projects will potentially reduce this number by around 2,440,” Imperial Tobacco said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
■ AUTOMAKERS
Toyota cuts US production
Toyota Motor Corp will cut production at three US plants in response to slowing sales, a spokeswoman said yesterday, hitting a bump on the road to becoming the world’s top automaker. Some 200 temporary workers will lose their jobs as a result of the cutbacks, she said. “We will slow down assembly lines, reduce operating hours and temporarily suspend production,” the spokeswoman said. The measures were to “cope with slowing sales in North America,” she said.
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
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘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)