■AVIATION
Northrop wants bid changes
Northrop Grumman Corp said on Tuesday it wouldn’t bid on a huge contract to make a new Air Force tanker plane unless the US Defense Department changed the rules. Northrop, which had partnered with Airbus on its bid, has been tussling for years with Boeing Co over a contract worth at least US$35 billion to build 179 new Air Force tankers. The Pentagon had circulated a draft of its request for proposals. Northrop said it asked for revisions on Nov. 4, but the Pentagon said the revisions would not be included. Without those changes, Northrop “cannot submit a bid” for the tanker program, it said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Daimler shifts production
German luxury car maker Daimler said yesterday it would manufacture its popular C Class automobiles at a US plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The move, which drew protests from Daimler workers on Tuesday, does not signal a major shift in Daimler’s strategy, CEO Dieter Zetsche said in a statement. The group also plans to shift work on its SL sport models to the core southwestern German plant in Sindelfingen, where workers had demonstrated, and to focus on making C Class cars for the European market in northern Bremen.
■AUTOMOBILES
US auto sales expand
US auto sales rose last month, extending a modest recovery for the troubled sector amid mixed results for the ailing domestic manufacturers, statistics from market researcher Autodata showed on Tuesday. Overall industry sales of 746,000 in the month translated to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 10.93 million vehicles, Autodata said. That was a modest improvement from 10.46 million in October and 10.41 million in November last year.
■AUTOMOBILES
Check car mats: Japan
Japan warned drivers to check floor mats in their vehicles to make sure they are properly installed after receiving 16 reports of problems over a decade, a government official said yesterday. The warning was issued on Tuesday by the Consumer Affairs Agency as part of a report to consumers about the floor mat problem in Toyota Motor Corp vehicles in the US. Toyota announced a massive recall last month in the US affecting more than 4 million vehicles to replace gas pedals that can get stuck in floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
■MARKETS
Gartner to acquire AMR
Gartner Inc, the research firm that tracks and forecasts computer and telecom sales, has agreed to acquire AMR Research Inc for about US$64 million in cash to add to its consulting business and expertise in supply-chain management. Gartner will finance the purchase with cash reserves and existing credit lines, a statement from the company on Tuesday said. The firm is adding services after clients reduced spending on research and consulting projects, contributing to three consecutive quarters of sales declines.
■INTERNET
Facebook users surge 15%
Users of Facebook Inc, the world’s most popular social-networking Web site, rose more than 15 percent in the past two-and-a-half months, said CEO Zuckerberg, who estimated Facebook had 300 million members in mid-September. More than 350 million people have signed up to the service, the Palo Alto, California-based company’s Web log said. Facebook also plans to revise its privacy settings by removing regional networks, it said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS