■ Finance
"Jobless rate unchanged
Japan's jobless rate held steady at 3.8 percent last month from the previous month, the government said yesterday, suggesting companies were willing to add labor despite uncertainty about the economy. Japanese Economy Minister Hiroko Ota said the government remained bullish but cautious about job market conditions. "We haven't changed our views on the employment situation," Ota told reporters after a regular Cabinet meeting. The labor market "continues improving, but its pace is slow."
■ Finance
Merrill co-president retiring
Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch said late on Monday that Ahmass Fakahany would retire as co-president and chief operating officer, effective Feb. 1. Fakahany, 49, joined the New York-based financial-services firm in 1987 and has served in a variety of senior roles. Merrill Lynch did not reveal the company's intentions for a successor. Fakahany is considered one of the architects of Merrill's development of high-risk investment vehicles, including those backed by subprime mortgages. The strategy helped rack up a US$7.8 billion net loss for the firm last year, compared with a net profit of US$7.5 billion in 2006.
■ Food
Danone buys plants: report
French food giant Danone, which is embroiled in a bitter feud with a Chinese partner, has bought two local dairy plants as it seeks to reshuffle its China operations, China Business News reported yesterday. Danone has signed an agreement to buy two manufacturing plants, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai, from Beijing-based Miaoshi Dairy (妙士乳業), the report said, citing unnamed sources. Spokespeople for Danone and Miaoshi contacted by Agence-France Presse either declined to comment or said they were unaware of the matter.
■ Beverages
Fired CEO gets nice options
Starbucks Corp has given the chief executive officer it fired earlier this month a severance package that includes US$1.25 million the coffee retailer will pay out over the next year. The agreement, disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, also allows Jim Donald to exercise options for 1.6 million shares of stock at prices of either US$10.86 or US$15.23. Those options are worth US$10.73 million, based on Monday's closing stock price of US$19.66. The world's largest chain of coffee houses fired Donald on Jan. 7 and handed the reins back to chairman Howard Schultz as part of a series of moves aimed at revitalizing the company.
■ Economy
Consumer confidence down
Consumer confidence in France dropped to a record low this month as rising inflation squeezed purchasing power. A gauge of consumer sentiment fell to minus 34, the lowest since the index was introduced in 1987, from a revised minus 30 last month, Insee, the national statistics office, said yesterday. A 66 percent increase in oil prices over the past year pushed the inflation rate to the highest in almost four years at 2.8 percent last month. Public confidence in President Nicolas Sarkozy also dropped, with his popularity falling to the lowest since he took office in May as higher prices deepened concern he would fail to fulfill his pledge to boost living standards, two opinion polls showed this month.
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