■ PRODUCT SAFETY
Fake toothpaste seized
Mozambican authorities have seized thousands of boxes of counterfeit toothpaste which they fear may contain a potentially deadly chemical. State radio said yesterday that the health ministry had banned all sales of Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection toothpaste and ordered storekeepers to remove it from their shelves. The fake toothpaste -- which has been sold by discount retailers in a number of countries including the US -- has nothing to do with Colgate-Palmolive Co. It contains diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze, which damages the kidneys and liver and can ultimately prove fatal to humans.
■ CAMBODIA
Economy too narrow
Cambodia's economy is too narrowly focused on its garment sector, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said yesterday, suggesting it needs to build on its successes to draw investors to other industries. "Cambodia has a particular opportunity and need to develop a global brand," Zoellick said at the end of a two-day visit to the country, which has carved out a lucrative niche by selling itself to buyers as a labor-friendly textile producer. Cambodia's garment sector continues to expand, employing some 330,000 people in more than 200 factories and accounting for 80 percent of the country's export earnings.
■ FINANCE
Doha Bank opens in PRC
Doha Bank Ltd, Qatar's fourth-biggest lender by market value, said its representative office in China will begin operations on Wednesday in Shanghai. The office, part of the bank's expansion strategy, adds to its branches in New York and Dubai and its representative offices in Singapore, Tokyo and Turkey, the Doha-based bank said in a statement posted on the Doha Securities Market.
■ HOTELS
IFA to build in Seychelles
IFA Hotels & Resorts Co KS, a Kuwaiti hotelier partly owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said it will build a US$450 million resort in the Seychelles to expand its overseas operations. IFA will form a joint venture with Indian Ocean Resorts Ltd to build a five-star hotel, villas and a marina on the island of Ste Anne in the Indian Ocean island chain, the Kuwait-based company said. IFA aims to increase its overseas operations by developing four properties in Namibia, after opening its Yotel at the UK's Gatwick Airport in June and buying 25 percent of Thai property developer Raimon Land Pcl last year.
■ OIL
Refiners resume pay talks
Oil refiners in South Africa including BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were to resume pay talks in Johannesburg yesterday to end a strike that has caused fuel shortages in Africa's largest economy, a labor union said. Keith Jacobs, deputy secretary-general of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union didn't give further details in a telephone interview yesterday. South Africa's largest refinery, BP and Shell-owned Sapref, earlier said it is preparing for a shutdown as a result of the strike. Sapref can process 180,000 barrels of oil a day. Some South African filling stations have already run dry as truckers and fuel-depot workers joined the strike that began last Monday.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from