■SINGAPORE
Exports drop 24 percent
Singapore’s key exports fell 24 percent last month from a year ago as shipments to the US and other main markets plunged amid the worldwide economic slump, the government said yesterday. It was the 10th straight month of decline in non-oil domestic exports, following the record 35 percent drop in January. Shipments to the city-state’s top 10 markets, except China, were down, monthly data released by the International Enterprise Singapore trade promotion body showed. Demand from the recession-hit US shrank the most as shipments fell 44.4 percent to S$1.03 billion (US$673 million), following a 50 percent decline in January.
■PETROLEUM
ExxonMobil opens China hub
A subsidiary of global oil giant ExxonMobil Corp yesterday announced plans to build a technology center in China’s economic hub of Shanghai. Exxonmobil Chemical’s hub, which will have an initial investment of US$70 million and is expected to open next year, will provide technical advice and laboratory support to customers in Asia, the company said. ExxonMobil is expanding in China with a recent joint venture operating 750 service stations and another building and operating a petrochemical refinery in Fujian.
■ALUMINUM
Alcoa to slash dividend
Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc said on Monday it planned to slash its quarterly dividend by 82 percent and sell US$1.1 billion in shares to bulk up its cash cushion amid the recession. The Pittsburgh-based company also said it planned to cut costs by more than US$2.4 billion annually by next year. Alcoa said its actions would reduce capital spending by an additional US$1 billion next year. The announcement, made after the market closed on Monday, follows news in January that Alcoa plans to lay off about 13 percent of its global work force by the end of 2009, further cut production and spending, and sell four of its subsidiaries.
■MICROCHIPS
AMD may lose chip license
Intel warned rival chipmaker AMD on Monday that its license to make personal-computer chips could be revoked because it spun out its manufacturing unit into a separate company. Intel first introduced its PC-compatible chips, which are based on the ubiquitous x86 architecture, in 1978 and later licensed to other companies. AMD manufactures the chips under a 2001 patent cross-licensing agreement, and AMD transferred the right to make x86 chips to its manufacturing spinoff GlobalFoundries, which Intel alleges violates terms of the original agreement. In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, AMD rejected Intel’s claims.
■AUSTRALIA
Interest rates unchanged
Australia’s central bank said yesterday it unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged this month to “leave adequate flexibility” in the future, prompting economists to predict more rate cuts. The Reserve Bank of Australia board released minutes of its monthly meeting, where it left rates at a 45-year-low of 3.25 percent to end a sequence of seven straight cuts since last September. “Members believed this would leave adequate flexibility for policy at future meetings,” the minutes said. The bank has lowered rates from 7.25 percent since September and economists said they were unlikely to remain on hold for long after recent figures showing unemployment at a four-year high of 5.2 percent last 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
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘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
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