■ MACROECONOMICS
US confidence drops
US consumer confidence fell to an all-time low as worries about jobs, energy bills and home foreclosures darkened people's feelings about the country's economic health and their own financial well-being. According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence tumbled to a mark of 56.3 early this month. That compares with a reading of 65.9 last month -- and a benchmark of 100 -- and was the worst since the index began in 2002. The RBC consumer confidence index was based on responses from 1,027 adults surveyed from Monday through Wednesday about their attitudes on personal finance and the economy.
■ MUSIC
Sony BMG relents on DRM
Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the last major music label holding out against selling music online without copy protection, relented on Thursday and announced Amazon.com Inc's digital music store will carry songs by its artists. Until this week, Sony BMG had resisted selling songs from its catalog without embedding Digital Rights Management (DRM) coding, which prevented them from being copied. Amazon's digital music store sells songs only in the MP3 format, which can be burned onto CDs, copied to multiple PCs and played on any number of digital media players, including Apple Inc's iPod and Microsoft Corp's Zune.
■ AVIATION
Growth may lead to curbs
China's civil aviation traffic soared 16 percent to 185 million passengers last year, triggering government plans for curbs on industry growth to ensure safety, state media reported yesterday. The booming sector was growing too fast, raising safety risks, and needs to be brought under control, the China Daily newspaper quoted state aviation chief Li Jiaxiang (李家祥) as saying. The risks looked set to rise, with volume projected to surge another 14 percent this year to 210 million passengers, the paper said, citing figures from the General Administration of Civil Aviation.
■ ENGINEERING
Report boosts JFE and IHI
Shares in Japanese engineering companies JFE Holdings Inc and IHI Corp rose sharply yesterday on a newspaper report that said the two will merge some of their operations to create Japan's largest shipbuilder. The companies separately issued statements saying they had made no decisions on any restructuring of their shipbuilding operations. The Nikkei said that based on fiscal 2007 sales projections, a combination of the two would have sales of ¥345 billion (US$3.1 billion) a year.
■ SECURITIES
Merrill losses bigger: report
Merrill Lynch & Co, the US' third-largest securities firm, may write down US$15 billion related to US mortgage losses, almost twice its original forecast, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the plan. Analysts had estimated the New York-based firm would announce a markdown of about US$12 billion when it reports fourth-quarter earnings next week, adding to an US$8.4 billion charge in the previous quarter. Citigroup, the biggest US bank, may post about US$14 billion of writedowns when it reports fourth-quarter earnings next week, JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts estimated yesterday. Bank of America Corp may announce writedowns linked to collateralized debt obligations of about US$5 billion, they said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2