■ Economics
China foresees 9% growth
China's economy will expand by 9 percent this year and maintain a high growth rate next year amid rising domestic demand, a government official said. ``China's economy will continue to growth at a
high level next year, and consumer consumption will rise,'' Zheng Jingping, a senior statistician at China's National Bureau of Statis-tics, told a coal conference in Beijing yesterday. ``Infla-tion is being held at contro-lable levels for now.'' Zheng gave no figure for growth next year. His forecast for this year is in line with previous official govern-ment predictions.
■ Energy
China passes fuel tax
China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has passed the automobile fuel taxation rule, the Economic Observer reported yester-day, citing Chen Qingtai, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council. The new regulation will be implemented at the appro-priate time, the report said, with-out providing details. The rule is aimed at encouraging consumers
to choose vehicles that
are oil-efficient and helping reduce fuel consump-tion, the Observer said. China, the world's second-largest user of oil after the US, will accelerate its energy-conservation planning and aims to cut consumption by 2.2 percent a year until 2010, and by
3 percent a year by 2020,
the government said on
Nov.25.
■ Aviation
Judge sides with United
A US federal bankruptcy court judge in Chicago, Illinois has blocked a group of creditors from repos-sessing up to 14 airplanes from United Airlines, saving the bank-rupt carrier tens
of millions of dollars. The judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday barring the group, repre-sented by the Chicago-based law firm Chapman and Cutler LLP, from seizing up to eight Boeing 767s and six 737s. The group of financiers, which controls about one-third of the airline's fleet, had threatened to seize the planes as early as Dec. 1 because of an impasse over their leases. United, the No. 2 airline in the US, is seeking to lower aircraft operating costs by renegotiating its leases with creditors. However, the airline argued that the Chapman group was violating antitrust laws by renegotiating as a bloc instead of as individual leaseholders, forcing United to accept higher lease
rates.
■ Retail
Wal-mart cuts sales target
Weaker-than-expected holiday shopping forced Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Saturday to cut its projected sales increase for this month by more than half,
an ominous announcement for retailers as their busiest time of year begins. The world's largest retailer estimated that the month's sales at US stores open at least a year would be 0.7 percent higher than last November, well below the
2 percent to 4 percent range that the company had said
it expected last week. The new projection was based on four weeks' worth of sales, from Oct. 30 through Friday, the company said
in a statement on its Web site. According to Wal-Mart, sales were strongest in
the categories of bedding, food, and pet supplies. ``
For the day after Thanks-giving, strength in blitz items included digital cameras, the TV-DVD combo, learning toys and video games,'' the retailing giant said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary