■OIL
Libya warns on high prices
Libya’s OPEC representative warned on the eve of a meeting of the cartel yesterday that the oil exporter group should be careful not to burden the recession-hit world economy with high energy prices. “We think they [prices] are low, but they will improve. But ... we should not make it more difficult for the world economy [by driving prices higher],” said Shukri Ghanem, the head of Libya’s National Oil Co. Prices have doubled since their lows in December last year and hit six-month highs on Wednesday of about US$63 a barrel. The 12-member OEPC met in Vienna yesterday and was expected to hold its output target steady at 24.84 million barrels a day.
■TOYS
FAO Schwarz sold
Toys R Us Inc said it had purchased FAO Schwarz, one of the oldest toy retailers in the US. CEO and chairman Jerry Storch announced the acquisition of the high-end store in a news release early yesterday. Toys R Us will operate FAO Schwarz’s flagship store in New York and a second store at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. FAO Schwarz’s Web site and catalog will continue to use the company’s name. Storch declined to release financial details of the agreement. FAO Schwarz was established in 1862 and was immortalized in the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big. The toy retailer filed for bankruptcy protection twice in 2003. It was purchased by D.E. Shaw group in 2004.
■SYSTEMS
Ericsson buys Turkish firm
Swedish wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson AB said yesterday it had bought all the shares in the Turkish systems integration company Bizitek for an undisclosed sum. Ericsson said it would take Bizitek’s 116 employees as part of the acquisition. Bizitek, which specializes in the field of business support systems, can give Ericsson an additional competence to provide solutions in business support systems for charging, provisioning, billing and customer relations management, the Swedish firm said. The integration of the firm into Ericsson is expected to be completed within 12 months.
■STEEL
POSCO obtains price cuts
South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO said yesterday it had negotiated a cut in iron ore prices of between 33 percent and 44 percent with Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. The reduction, which will be applied retroactively from last month, is similar to an earlier agreement between Rio Tinto and Japan’s Nippon Steel, but not as deep as the 40 percent to 45 percent drop requested by Chinese steelmakers. POSCO, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, said it would buy iron ore for US$58.20 to US$68.90 per tonne. The group, which imports up to 50 million tonnes of iron ore annually, has been in talks with major suppliers including BHP Billiton of Australia and Brazil’s Vale about prices for the current contract year.
■TELECOMS
Text translator offered
Wot r ur kids txting? If you’re wondering — or 1dering — there’s a new online translation tool that helps decipher the code. Mobile phone maker LG Electronics MobileComm USA has launched “DTXTR,” a Web service that translates teen text speech into plain English. Plug in text shortcuts such as OMG! or 2G2BT and get back the translation — in this case “Oh my God!” and “too good to be true.” DTXTR includes a glossary of hundreds of definitions for shorthand text phrases, abbreviations and symbols.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from