Crude oil: OPEC about to boost output
OPEC will agree this week to boost production quotas for the first time in two years, as a 50 percent surge in oil prices this year threatens to slow demand and spur rivals to boost output, investors and traders said. The group will raise its target by about 950,000 barrels a day, or 4.4 percent, according to forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of 24 analysts. An increase would send US oil prices down by US$2 a barrel from almost US$30 now, the survey showed. Twenty of the 24 analysts expected an increase, and the rest saw no change. OPEC members meet Thursday in Osaka, Japan, as the threat of war in Iraq and the approach of an annual peak in demand threaten to drive prices higher. OPEC pumps a third of the world's crude oil, and some members are concerned more supply and a slowing US economy may cause prices to plunge.
Global Crossing: Plan won't stop lawsuits
Global Crossing Ltd will file a plan to emerge from bankruptcy that will leave Chairman Gary Winnick vulnerable to lawsuits by creditors owed more than US$12 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The reorganization will make it easier for creditors to challenge salary, bonuses and millions of dollars in consulting fees that the world's largest fiber-optic network operator paid founder Winnick and other insiders in the months before the company's Chapter 11 filing in January, the people said. "Creditors have every right to review the transactions between Mr. Winnick and Global Crossing and recover for any wrongdoing he may have engaged in or any payments he wrongly took," Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren said.
Retail sales: China sees 8.8% growth
China's retail sales growth accelerated in August as consumers in cities bought more cars and other goods, countering flagging demand in rural areas that are home to two-thirds of the country's 1.3 billion people. Sales rose 8.8 percent from the same month a year earlier to 314.4 billion yuan (US$38 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said. That followed an 8.6 percent increase in July. Consumers in China's cities are spending their rising wages, boosting retail sales. That helped nationwide car purchases rise 55 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the Oauto Web site, which compiles auto-industry data. "Chinese people are gaining purchasing power and can now buy big-ticket items like cars," said Marvin Wong, an economist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Hong Kong.
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
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