■ Aviation
Airline settles over crash
Singapore Airlines has settled a dozen lawsuits brought by survivors and relatives of people who perished in a jumbo jet crash in Taiwan four years ago, attorneys for the plaintiffs said on Thursday. The civil lawsuits -- personal injury cases brought by four survivors and wrongful death claims filed by 35 relatives of 10 people killed aboard Flight SQ006 -- had been pending in US District Court in Los Angeles and were settled over the past month, attorney Kevin Boyle said. The settlement amounts were not being disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. The Boeing 747-400 jetliner went down the wrong runway and crashed into construction equipment at Chiang Kai Shek Airport on Oct. 31, 2000, killing 83 people. At least two other cases filed in US courts made it to trial, with one ending in settlement before it went to the jury.
■ Oil
Supplies `normal again'
Global oil supplies are back at normal levels and oil prices should fall further after recent record highs, OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday. "[Oil] supply is normal again, with adequate stocks ... we expect prices to keep falling," Yusgiantoro told reporters. Asked if the downtrend will continue into the first quarter of next year, Yusgiantoro said demand for oil will rise but OPEC's production should be sufficient to meet the demand. Oil prices eased further overnight on expectations that China's interest rate hike will curb energy demand. Crude oil for December delivery fell to its lowest level in three weeks at US$50.92 on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight as the market judged that China's hike in interest rates will dampen its demand for energy. Yusgiantoro said OPEC had yet to decide whether to raise its output quota again when the members meet in Cairo in December.
■ Banking
US allows digitized checks
Electronic banking in the US took a step forward on Thursday as a new law took effect allowing digitized images of checks to become their legal equivalent. The new law, aimed at easing the burden of transferring billions of paper checks between banks, has drawn praise from the banking industry as a more efficient way of moving money, but is being criticized by some consumer advocates. Under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or Check 21, any bank in the check-processing chain can convert the original check into a digital image known as a substitute check and throw away the original. Banks are required to accept the digitized images as the "legal equivalent of the original check for all purposes." For consumers, the change may mean an end to the "float" time of several days for a check to travel between banks and clear. Consumers are unlikely to get their cancelled checks back.
■ Auto Industry
GM to idle five plants
General Motors Corp says it will temporarily idle five plants early next year, which will affect about 10,300 workers, because of an expected oversupply of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. The shutdowns are in addition to the elimination of one shift and 900 jobs at GM's Pontiac Truck Assembly Plant in January, announced last Tuesday. The plant builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The cuts aim to bring production in line with "market forecasts and current demand," GM spokesman Dan Flores said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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