■CHINA
Agency raises growth figure
China yesterday revised upward its economic growth for last year to 9.6 percent after a nationwide census, but said the change had little impact on this year’s growth rate. That raised China’s GDP to 31.4 trillion yuan (US$4.6 trillion), compared with an earlier estimation of 30.1 trillion yuan, the national statistics agency said. The original data reported 9 percent economic growth year-on-year for last year. The revised data will be used for this year’s estimation of economic growth as a comparison base, but will have little impact on this year’s number, the statistics agency said.
■ECONOMY
More signs of recovery
New orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods excluding transportation items surged last month and new US applications for unemployment aid hit the lowest level in 15 months last week, pointing to a firmly entrenched economic recovery. The US Commerce Department said on Thursday that durable goods orders excluding transportation rose 2 percent last month, more than reversing October’s 0.7 percent drop and beating market expectations for a 1 percent rise. A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 28,000 to 452,000 last week. That was the lowest since September last year.
■OIL
Nippon to close units
Nippon Oil Corp and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc, set to merge in April, will shut three oil refining units and cut capacity at another plant by March 2011 as fuel demand shrinks in the world’s second-biggest economy. Nippon Oil will close three crude distillation units in Japan with a combined capacity of 204,000 barrels a day, the company said in a statement released in Tokyo. Nippon Mining will also reduce capacity at a plant in Kashima, near Tokyo. The two companies aim to shed 600,000 barrels a day, or about one-third of capacity, by March 2015 and save ¥100 billion (US$1.1 billion) a year.
■FINANCE
Daiwa to buy SMBC stake
Daiwa Securities Group Inc will pay ¥173.9 billion to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc to buy out its stake in their investment banking venture, Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Sumitomo Mitsui, which holds a 40 percent stake in the venture, will retain a 40 percent stake in Daiwa Securities SMBC’s private equity unit.
■INVESTMENT
Goldman seeks clearance
Goldman Sachs Group Inc is seeking regulatory clearance to create exchange-traded funds, a fast-growing segment of the money-management business. The company filed an application today with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to establish ETFs that track market indexes. The initial fund will seek to replicate an index based on the Brazilian, Chinese, Indian and South Korean stock markets, the New York-based company’s application said.
■TELECOMS
Lauer leaves Qualcomm
Qualcomm Inc said Len Lauer quit as chief operating officer of the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone chips and accepted a chief executive officer’s role at another company. Lauer’s new employer is expected to be announced early next year, Qualcomm said in a filing on Thursday. Lauer, 52, joined Qualcomm in 2006 after spending eight years at Sprint Nextel Corp, most recently as chief operating officer.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’