■ Automobiles
Nissan to sell electric cars
Japanese auto manufacturer Nissan Motor plans to sell electric cars in three years in a bid to catch up with its rivals in the market for environmentally friendly vehicles, a news report said yesterday. The lightweight, subcompact electric model will be powered by lithium-ion batteries developed in-house, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, without citing sources. Electric cars are unable to travel long distances between charges, but Nissan is set to develop new technology allowing distances of about 200km on a single charge. Mitsubishi Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries currently lead the development of electric cars. Nissan's participation will intensify the race, Nihon Keizai said.
■ ASEAN
Single market set for 2015
Southeast Asian leaders are to advance to 2015 the target date for integrating the region's vast economies into a single EU-style market, a draft declaration obtained by Agence France Presse showed. The declaration is expected to be signed by ASEAN leaders when they meet for an annual summit next month in Mactan, Philippines. ASEAN is also negotiating separately for free-trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea, hoping this will become a catalyst for a wider East Asian free trade zone.
■ Gold
Aussie output slightly down
Australia's gold production fell 3.1 percent in the third quarter as miners processed lower-grade ore amid higher prices for the metal, said Surbiton Associates Pty, a research company. Gold output fell to 62 tonnes in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 64 tonnes in the year-earlier quarter, Melbourne-based Surbiton said yesterday in a statement. Production for the first nine months of the year fell 7 percent to 183 tonnes. Australian gold prices were A$821 (US$639) an ounce in the quarter, about A$240 more than the average in the same quarter last year. Australia produces about a 10th of global output.
■ Telecoms
TIM denies deal with Claro
Telecom Italia's TIM mobile operations denied a report that it was being bought out by a Brazilian company. The Brazilian daily O Globo reported on Saturday that wireless provider Claro, a unit of Latin American telecom giant America Movil, has agreed to buy TIM for 8 billion euros. Citing company and market sources, Globo said the agreement was reached on Friday, two weeks after Claro revised its offer for TIM. An industry source said that the deal was almost certain to go through and that the market expects an announcement next week. But in a brief statement issued late on Saturday, TIM said: "Today's news about the likely sale of TIM ... is groundless."
■ Oil
Fernandez seeks Saudi help
Dominican officials are pushing for Saudi Arabia to build an oil refinery in the Caribbean country, hoping to end chronic fuel shortages and take advantage of an impending US trade deal. President Leonel Fernandez hosted the Saudi Ambassador to the US Turki al-Faisal for an official lunch at the national palace on Friday, his office said in a statement. Al-Faisal and the president had discussed a possible refinery, which would supply the eastern US and the Dominican Republic, in a Washington meeting earlier this year, according to the statement, which did not provide further details about the project.
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