■ OIL
Crude price drops US$0.18
Oil prices dropped yesterday as traders took profit from crude futures' rise last week on worries about global supplies. Light, sweet crude for delivery next month lost US$0.18 to US$76.52 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midmorning in Singapore. The contract rose US$0.40 on Friday to settle at US$76.70 a barrel, ending the week up US$2.66, or 3.6 percent. Prices have been supported by concerns about tight supplies and expectations that OPEC will keep output steady at a meeting today. OPEC is almost certain to maintain its current production target this week, with demand for gasoline and diesel fuel slackening.
■ SEMICONDUCTORS
AMD launches new chip
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) launched its highly publicized new server chip yesterday, delivering the biggest jolt to its product lineup in four years. The company's redesigned Opteron processor is the first from AMD to feature four computing engines on a single chip instead of just one or two. AMD's belated entry into the "quad-core" market is a critical element in the financially strapped company's offensive against Intel Corp, the world's largest semiconductor company, whose market value of US$148 billion makes it 21 times bigger than AMD.
■ CHINA
Car sales, output revised
Car output and sales are forecast to reach a record 9 million units this year, media reports said, amid continuing problems with overcapacity. The forecast is higher than earlier estimates of 8.5 million in sales and output, the state-run newspaper China Daily reported on Sunday, citing China Machinery Industry Federation vice president Zhang Xiaoyu (張小虞). A top economic planner warned that production capacity in the auto sector has exceeded 10 million units -- far beyond sales of 7.2 million units last year, which made it the world's second-largest auto market last year, surpassing Japan.
■ ECONOMY
IMF welcomes `reckoning'
The recent credit crunch in the financial markets has provided a welcome "reckoning" that should help in terms of long-term stability, the outgoing head of the IMF said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times from Cernobbio, Italy, at a conference of international financial policymakers, IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato said this "reckoning is probably a welcome one but it does not mean that it will be a painless one." Rato, who is set to step down from his post next month, described recent market turmoil caused by problems in the US housing sector as a "serious crisis."
■ ECONOMY
IMF cuts growth forecast
The IMF will cut its forecast for world economic growth because of fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis that will weigh on US and global expansion, particularly next year. "It's too early to quantify," IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato told a press conference in Lisbon yesterday. While most of the reduction in the forecasts will come in the US, "we see consequences in Europe and Japan, but probably much more limited." The slump in the US housing market is starting to spread from the domestic housing market to the broader economy as companies face rising financing costs as banks clamp down on lending.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from