■ OIL
War talk rattles market
Oil prices rose to new intraday highs in Asia yesterday on fears Turkey would pursue Kurdish rebels into Iraq and disrupt oil supplies in the region. A weakening US dollar, low US crude inventories and increased buying by investment funds also supported prices, analysts said. Light, sweet crude for delivery next month rose US$0.51 to US$86.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon yesterday in Singapore. Despite the gains, oil is still below inflation-adjusted highs hit in early 1980.
■ SOFTWARE
Microsoft drops appeal
Microsoft Corp said yesterday it had submitted a request to withdraw an appeal against an antitrust ruling by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). "It is important to note that Microsoft remains committed to [South] Korea and continues to work closely with the FTC to ensure that [South] Korean consumers benefit from vibrant competition in the IT industry," Microsoft said in a statement. It also said that the company had submitted the withdrawal request to the Seoul High Court. It did not elaborate. In February of last year, the KFTC ruled that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position in Korea to tie certain software to its Windows operating system.
■ COTTON
WTO rules against US
The WTO has found that the US failed to scrap a series of illegal subsidies paid out to local cotton growers, a ruling that could open the door to billions of dollars' worth of Brazilian trade sanctions against the US, trade officials said on Monday. The result is a major victory for Brazil's cotton industry and for West African countries that have claimed to have been harmed by the US payments. The three-member WTO compliance panel upheld its findings from an interim report released in July, said Roberto Azevedo, the Brazilian foreign ministry's trade chief.
■ PACKAGING
Cardboard firm to pay fine
Australia's competition watchdog yesterday recommended a company headed by the country's third richest man, cardboard box billionaire Richard Pratt, pay a record fine for participating in a cartel. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission called for Pratt's company, Visy, to pay a A$36 million (US$32.4 million) fine for breaching anti-trust laws through a secret price-fixing deal struck with rival Amcor. The previous Australian record fine for cartel behavior was US$15 million. Pratt, whose personal wealth was estimated at A$5.4 billion in this year's Business Review Weekly rich list, admitted earlier this month that Visy's deal with Amcor breached Australian anti-trust laws.
■ FOOD
Danone pulls out of venture
French food giant Danone, which is embroiled in a long and bitter public feud with a Chinese partner, said yesterday it was backing out of another venture in China. Groupe Danone SA will sell its entire 20.01 percent stake in Shanghai-based Bright Dairy and Food for 955 million yuan (US$127 million), separate company statements said. Besides its partnership with Bright Dairy, Danone also has a troubled tie-up with China's top drinks company Wahaha Group. The two firms are in the midst of bitter disputes linked to their joint ventures and ownership of the Wahaha trademark.
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