document.writeln("

China evacuates villages after chemical plant disaster
Harbin, China: Chinese authorities have evacuated hundreds of villagers from their homes along a river in northeast China after an explosion at a petrochemical plant upstream dumped 100 tonnes of toxic chemicals in it.

More than 300 residents of Niujiadian village and Gou island in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, were evacuated by Thursday before an 80-km (50-mile) slick of water contaminated by benzene and other chemicals passed by on the Songhua river, the local Life Daily said.

As an immediate response two reservoirs upstream discharged a huge amount of water into the river to dilute the toxic spill, the Web site of the Harbin city government said.

Water supply to the city has been cut off since Tuesday. The city is home to nine million people, including three million urban residents.

Local hospitals had stockpiled antidotes to benzene-related poisoning, the official Xinhua news agency said. Benzene poisoning can cause anaemia, other blood disorders and kidney and liver damage.

The Nov. 13 explosion at the Jilin Petrochemical Co. chemicals plant in neighbouring Jilin province killed five people. The plant is owned by a subsidiary of China's biggest energy company, China National Petroleum Corp.

The State Environmental Protection Administration has rejected accusations that local authorities had waited too long before telling residents or Russia about the pollution. Russia's environmental protection agency said it was worried the pollution might affect drinking water in its Khabarovsk region, which the Songhua enters several hundred km (miles) downstream from Harbin.
Back to News Review index page  

EU agrees to cut sugar subsidies
Brussels: European Union agriculture ministers have agreed to cut sugar prices by 36 per cent marking which makes this the biggest slash in prices in 40 years of one of the European bloc's most subsidized food sectors.

Trade analysts however cautioned that the shift, which acts on a World Trade Organization ruling that the EU was excessively subsidizing its sugar exports, was unlikely to strengthen the EU's hand in upcoming global trade talks.

The accord was achieved after a majority of EU governments accepted a compromise presented by the EU agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, who offered increased compensation to sugar-producing farmers and companies to offset the pain of the reduction in quotas and prices.

Ireland will have to shut down all its sugar beet production, while Italy stands to lose a significant part of its sugar production.

Ireland, Italy and other hard-hit EU countries will gain extra aid for their farmers to compensate for as much as 100 percent of losses as a result of the price reduction, compared with a previous cap of 60 percent.

For nearly four decades, sugar has been the EU's most regulated sector, with a mix of quotas, guaranteed minimum prices and import restrictions that created a safety net for European sugar beet producers, while keeping prices at more than three times world levels.

This heavily regulated framework has withstood repeated attempts at reform and has often been criticized for punishing developing world producers by allowing the EU's surplus sugar to flood global markets, dragging down prices.

The International Confederation of European Beet Growers said it anticipated that a third of the 300,000 beet growers in Europe would abandon the industry, and that 80 of 320 sugar factories would shut down. The aid to be provided by EU includes a 5.6 billion fund, to be dispersed over the next four years, to compensate for sugar refinery closings.
Back to News Review index page  

Fuji Heavy's U.S. subsidiary to make Toyota cars
Tokyo: Toyota Motor Corp. plans to consign production of several of its car models to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s U.S. subsidiary, the first operational agreement since the companies announced a capital alliance in October, sources said.

As per the understanding Fuji Heavy will allocate an assembly line at Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary in Lafayette, Indiana, to produce Toyota vehicles. Toyota will not invest capital in the SIA, but will consign the Fuji subsidiary production from 2007, beginning with a single model. The plan is to eventually have several models made at the SIA, for an annual production of 100,000 units.

Toyota, which has seen a steady expansion of sales, has been making huge capital investments to keep pace with orders. The SIA, originally owned by Fuji Heavy and Isuzu Motors Ltd., saw the alliance being terminated at the end of 2002. The company now has surplus capacity. Toyota and Fuji Heavy set up a group to study cooperation on production and technological development.
Back to News Review index page  

Nikkei at highest levels in five years
Tokyo: Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.3 percent to its highest level in nearly five years on Thursday, extending its rally into a sixth session, as chip-related stocks gained on optimism about the industry's outlook.

Analysts said that the market was beginning to look like the information technology bubble in the early 2000s. The tech-sensitive Nikkei was up 0.27 percent, or 39.31 points, at 14,747.63 this morning after hitting 14,866.99, its highest since December 2000. The Topix was down 0.35 percent at 1,521.25.
Advantest, the world's largest maker of microchip-testing devices, soared 8.1 percent to 10,680 yen while Tokyo Electron, the world's second-largest producer of chip-making tools, leapt 6.1 percent to 7,310 yen.

Traders said a plan by U.S. chip makers Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. to form a venture to make flash memory had fuelled expectations of active investment in chip-related products.

A strong performance by U.S. stocks also helped other Japanese high-tech shares, with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., the maker of Panasonic goods, up 2.5 percent at 2,465 yen.

Rival consumer electronics maker Sony Corp.was up 1.2 percent at 4,390 yen, after climbing as high as 4,430 yen, a level last seen in April 2004.
Back to News Review index page  

Euro slips against dollar
Frankfurt, Germany: The euro slipped further Thursday against the dollar as speculation continued about American and European interest rates and German business confidence dipped.

The 12-nation currency bought US$1.1777 in late afternoon trading, down from US$1.1809 in New York the previous night after business sentiment in Germany fell for the first time in three months.

The dollar bought 118.90 Japanese yen, up from 118.78 yen. The greenback was at 1.1719 Canadian dollars, down from 1.1722 late Wednesday.

U.S. markets were closed because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Back to News Review index page