■ OIL
OPEC to cut output: official
OPEC should order a “substantial” cut in oil output at this week’s emergency meeting in Vienna, Algerian Energy Minister and current OPEC chief Chakib Khelil said on Saturday. “There will be a reduction in production at the next extraordinary meeting of OPEC, and it will have to be a substantial one to get the balance right between supply and demand,” he told reporters. “If it has to be 1.5 million barrels per day, or 2 million barrels per day, that’s what it will be,” Khelil said, during a visit to the southern Algerian province of Tamanrasset. Khelil said that OPEC wanted to see oil prices “remain stable” throughout the first half of next year at “between US$70 and US$90.” Iran — OPEC’s second largest exporter — also called Saturday for a significant cut amid prospects of reduced demand in the face of the global economic slowdown, the state broadcaster reported.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Media giant to cut spending
A trade paper reports that NBC Universal plans to cut US$500 million in spending next year to prepare for an expected continuation of the worldwide economic slowdown. Variety says president and CEO Jeff Zucker announced the cuts Friday in a staff memo. The reduction would equal 3 percent of the company’s budget. Variety says division heads will decide how to reduce their spending. But Zucker’s memo suggested several ways, including staffing reductions and cutbacks in budgets for travel, entertainment and promotions. Variety says the memo didn’t specifically mention any layoff plans. It’s unclear how many staffers might be affected by the spending drop. An NBC Universal spokesman didn’t return a call seeking comment on Saturday.
■ HEALTH
Aussie economy hit by injury
Chronic diseases such as back pain and arthritis are forcing many older Australians out of work and costing the economy US$10 billion a year, a study released yesterday said. Researchers used Australian Bureau of Statistics data to estimate that 663,235 people aged between 45 and 64 were missing from the labor market in 2003 because of ill health. The study, published in The Medical Journal of Australia, found the cost to GDP of the absent employees was some A$14.7 billion (US$10.1 billion) per year. “Back injuries, arthritis and mental health disorders accounted for approximately half the missing workers,” researcher Deborah Schofield said. She said as the government dealt with an ageing population, and encouraged older people to remain in the workforce, more attention needed to be paid to the health of workers in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
■ MANUFACTURING
Tata warns of capital flight
Tata group chief Ratan Tata, forced to relocate production of the world’s cheapest car from eastern India, has warned there could be a flight of capital and industry from the poverty-hit region. In an open letter to residents of communist-ruled West Bengal, Tata asked whether they wanted to build a prosperous state or “see the state consumed by the destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness?” The tea-to-steel group earlier this month shifted production of the high-profile Nano car to the business-friendly western state of Gujarat, abandoning the original site in West Bengal. The Nano has attracted worldwide attention due to its planned price tag of just 100,000 rupees (US$2,100).
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
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