■US economy
Consumer confidence up
Consumer confidence rose in November for the first time in half a year, but industrial production fell for a third consecutive month in October, new data showed on Friday. The University of Michigan's preliminary sentiment index measuring consumer confidence, based on a survey of 500 households, rose to a higher-than-expected level of 85 from 80.6 in October. Consumers, whose spending makes up two thirds of US economic activity, may feel better because of rising stocks, interest rate reductions and potential tax cuts next year, said analysts. However, industrial production dropped in October, said the Federal Reserve. Output at factories, mines and utilities fell by 0.8 percent last month.
■ Agriculture
Australia hit by drought
The damage caused by a record drought now ravaging most of Australia is likely to get worse, and the relief bill may exceed the A$200 million (US$112 million) budgeted by the government, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. "There is potential for the numbers to even get worse," Agriculture Minister Warren Truss told Network 10 television, pointing to anecdotal evidence suggesting that this year's wheat crop will be "small" and that animal husbandry industries were suffering. Some agricultural areas of Australia have been gripped by drought for almost 18 months, with some regions hit by the driest conditions in more than a century. In recent weeks, authorities have declared 70 percent of the country to be affected. Australia's central bank warned two weeks ago that the drought could cut economic growth by up to one percentage point.
■ Retailers
Thailand nixes regulations
Thailand's government has dumped controversial legislation which would have regulated foreign-owned retailers to protect the country's struggling "mom and pop" stores, a report said yesterday. The Nation newspaper said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told a provincial chamber of commerce meeting that the Retail Business Act would have sent the wrong signal to foreign investors. The law could have compromised the government's policy on free trade, he said, adding however that the interior ministry could still issue regulations on zoning and closing hours for large retail outlets.
■ Auction
JFK's car sold in New York
The Lincoln Continental that President John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 sold for US$225,000 at an auction in New York on Saturday. The buyer, who was not at the auction, gave his price in advance of the event. The Lincoln convertible, which is now in Connecticut, has been partially restored although its interior remains entirely original, said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's auction house. Other items related to America's 35th president also sold for substantial sums, such as a wooden rocking chair he received as a gift that sold for US$80,000 and a watercolor he painted two years before his death that went for US$30,000. The auction of US presidential memorabilia was held at the New York Historical Society. In other items, a fountain pen owned by former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sold for US$7,000 while his silver cigarette lighter brought in US$2,000.
Agencies
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft