■ UNITED STATES
Consumer confidence down
With Christmas only a month away, US consumers became more pessimistic about the economy this month, sending a widely watched barometer of confidence to the lowest level in two years amid worries about rising fuel costs and a housing market slump. The New York-based Conference Board said on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 87.3, marking a four-month slide and continuing down almost 8 points from the revised 95.2 last month. It was the lowest reading since 85.2 in October 2005 when gas and oil prices soared after hurricanes flooded New Orleans and shut down a large chunk of the nation's oil refineries. It also marked the sharpest drop since September 2005 when the index plummeted 18 points from the previous month.
■ STEEL
China observing merger
The Chinese government is watching talks on mining giant BHP Billiton's bid for rival Rio Tinto and is hoping to see stable iron ore prices regardless of the outcome, a government spokesman said. "A merger between these two companies is a commercial matter over which we have no opinion," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said on Tuesday at a routine briefing. "However, we hope that international iron ore prices will reflect the laws of market supply and demand," Qin said. "The price should be long-term, stable and beneficial to all, both the exporting and importing countries," he said.
■ GAMING
DS sales hit 20 million
Nintendo has sold more than 20 million of its DS handheld video game consoles in Japan since the series was first launched about three years ago, a survey released yesterday showed. Total domestic sales of the DS and the DS Lite reached 20.05 million on Sunday, game magazine publisher Enterbrain said in a statement. The DS first went on sale in Japan in December 2004 and the DS Lite in March last year. The DS series reached the 20 million domestic sales mark in less than three years, compared with more than six years for Sony's PlayStation 2, Enterbrain said.
■ AVIATION
Seoul tightens rules
Plans by Korean Air to launch a low-cost international airline next year hit a snag yesterday as authorities introduced strict guidelines on the booming budget carrier business. South Korea's transportation ministry said it would enact new rules requiring all budget carriers to run domestic flights for at least two years before operating international flights. The announcement came just two days after the nation's biggest carrier said it would launch a low-cost international airline in May and turn it into Asia's biggest budget carrier by 2012.
■ ENERGY
Japan seeks secure source
Japan will build ties with African countries to secure energy and other resources, a senior official with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. "Not only for rare metals but also for energy resources, Africa will become important for us," Harufumi Mochizuki, director general of the ministry's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, said late on Tuesday. Shin Hosaka, director of the agency's petroleum and natural gas division, said earlier it may be difficult to get control of African energy resources given intensifying competition from other countries, especially China.
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