Mon, Aug 30, 2010 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ PETROLEUM

  Mobil reports gear failure

  Exxon Mobil Corp reported an equipment failure at its Joliet, Illinois, refinery and nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide were released from the flare, according to a filing to the US Coast Guard’s National Response Center and posted on the center’s Web site. The incident happened at 3:11am on Friday, the report said. US refineries must notify the National Response Center if they release hazardous substances in excess of reportable quantities, according to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund.

  ■ LABOR

  Singapore to recruit workers

  Singapore will recruit 45,000 Bangladeshi domestic workers in a boost for the country’s labor export sector after jobs dried up in the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia, an official said yesterday. Singaporean recruiting firms agreed on the number following talks in Dhaka last week, director of the government’s Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Nurul Islam said. The global downturn affected jobs for Bangladeshi workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors in the Persian Gulf. According to the BMET, Bangladesh sent 202,000 workers abroad in the first half of this year — the lowest in four years.

  ■ECONOMY

  Kuwait posts budget surplus

  OPEC member Kuwait posted a budget surplus of US$22.4 billion in the past fiscal year on the back of strong oil revenues, an economic report said on yesterday, citing official figures. It is the third-largest windfall in the Gulf state’s history and its 11th consecutive year of budget surpluses, which have allowed Kuwait to accumulate US$145 billion in public revenues, according to calculations based on official figures. Kuwait’s oil income last year — which formed almost 94 percent of public revenues — reached US$57.6 billion, compared to US$68.1 billion the previous year, and up from US$24.1 billion estimated in the 2009-2010 budget.

  ■TECHNOLOGY

  PR firm settles charges

  US regulators on Friday said a public relations firm has agreed to settle charges that it had employees pose as unbiased video game buyers and post reviews at Apple’s online iTunes store. The deal requires Reverb Communications and its owner, Tracie Snitker, to remove such potentially deceptive reviews and refrain from the practice, according to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). California-based Reverb provides marketing and public relations services to video game makers. Between November of 2008 and May last year, Reverb posted reviews at iTunes about clients’ games in ways that gave the impression the comments “were written by disinterested customers,” according to the FTC.

  ■ELECTRONICS

  LG to unveil thinnest TV

  LG Electronics Inc, the world’s second-biggest maker of LCD televisions, said it will unveil its thinnest flat-screen TV next month and expects such high-end products to boost sales next year. The 8.8mm thick LCD TV, which uses LEDs to illuminate the screen, will be shown during the annual IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin next month, K.S. Lee, vice president of the global marketing strategy for LG’s home entertainment division, said in Seoul. The new LG model, known as the “Nano TV,” will go on sale in South Korea, Germany and France next month, according to the company.
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