■ Aviation
Airline settles over crash
Singapore Airlines has settled a dozen lawsuits brought by survivors and relatives of people who perished in a jumbo jet crash in Taiwan four years ago, attorneys for the plaintiffs said on Thursday. The civil lawsuits -- personal injury cases brought by four survivors and wrongful death claims filed by 35 relatives of 10 people killed aboard Flight SQ006 -- had been pending in US District Court in Los Angeles and were settled over the past month, attorney Kevin Boyle said. The settlement amounts were not being disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. The Boeing 747-400 jetliner went down the wrong runway and crashed into construction equipment at Chiang Kai Shek Airport on Oct. 31, 2000, killing 83 people. At least two other cases filed in US courts made it to trial, with one ending in settlement before it went to the jury.
■ Oil
Supplies `normal again'
Global oil supplies are back at normal levels and oil prices should fall further after recent record highs, OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday. "[Oil] supply is normal again, with adequate stocks ... we expect prices to keep falling," Yusgiantoro told reporters. Asked if the downtrend will continue into the first quarter of next year, Yusgiantoro said demand for oil will rise but OPEC's production should be sufficient to meet the demand. Oil prices eased further overnight on expectations that China's interest rate hike will curb energy demand. Crude oil for December delivery fell to its lowest level in three weeks at US$50.92 on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight as the market judged that China's hike in interest rates will dampen its demand for energy. Yusgiantoro said OPEC had yet to decide whether to raise its output quota again when the members meet in Cairo in December.
■ Banking
US allows digitized checks
Electronic banking in the US took a step forward on Thursday as a new law took effect allowing digitized images of checks to become their legal equivalent. The new law, aimed at easing the burden of transferring billions of paper checks between banks, has drawn praise from the banking industry as a more efficient way of moving money, but is being criticized by some consumer advocates. Under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or Check 21, any bank in the check-processing chain can convert the original check into a digital image known as a substitute check and throw away the original. Banks are required to accept the digitized images as the "legal equivalent of the original check for all purposes." For consumers, the change may mean an end to the "float" time of several days for a check to travel between banks and clear. Consumers are unlikely to get their cancelled checks back.
■ Auto Industry
GM to idle five plants
General Motors Corp says it will temporarily idle five plants early next year, which will affect about 10,300 workers, because of an expected oversupply of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. The shutdowns are in addition to the elimination of one shift and 900 jobs at GM's Pontiac Truck Assembly Plant in January, announced last Tuesday. The plant builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The cuts aim to bring production in line with "market forecasts and current demand," GM spokesman Dan Flores said.
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
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
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
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source