Musk delivers first Tesla truck; no update on pricingReutersTesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk delivered the company’s first heavy-duty Semi on Thursday to PepsiCo without offering updated forecasts for the vehicle’s pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul. Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk, right, speaks with Tesla Semi Truck Engineering senior manager Dan Priestly during a live-streamed unveiling of the Tesla Semi electric truck in Nevada, US, on Thursday. Photo: REUTERSHowever, industry experts remain skeptical that battery electric trucks can economically take the strain of hauling hefty loads for hundreds of miles. PepsiCo, which completed its first cargo run with the Tesla truck to deliver snacks for those attending the Nevada launch event, had ordered 100 trucks in 2017. Musk said the semi-truck has been doing test runs from Tesla’s Nevada factory to its plant in Fremont, California.

A picture of a memorial site for the victims of the Jonestown Massacre in November 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana. Bodies of more than 400 members of the Jim Jones’ sect “Temple of people” in Jonestown, where the Cult leader Jim Jones had established the Peoples Temple. Fitz Duke on Sept. 21 gestures at the entrance of Jonestown, Guyana. Forty-four years later, only a white slab in the overgrowth bearing the words “in memory of the victims of the Jonestown massacre” bears testament to what happened at the site. But, if children want to study that, or people want to visit as a tourist site, there is nothing,” she added.

China’s central bank says focus is on growthBloombergPeople’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang (易綱) said the central bank’s attention is to be centered on economic growth, a sign policymakers might shift gear toward supporting economic recovery as the nation gradually eases COVID-19 controls. “Our focus is growth right now,” Yi said yesterday in a video speech given to a central bank conference in Bangkok. Photo: REUTERSThe central bank recently surprised market watchers by cutting the reserve requirement ratio for banks — unleashing more cash that banks can use for lending. Yi’s comments “confirmed the recent shift of policy focus to growth after the party congress” in October, Mizuho Bank foreign exchange strategist Ken Cheung (張建泰) said. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo attended the event.

Brain chip to start human trials in six months: MuskReutersElon Musk said on Wednesday he expects a wireless brain chip developed by his company Neuralink to begin human clinical trials in six months, after the company missed earlier timelines he set. “We want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human,” Musk said during a much-awaited public update on the device. Neuralink’s last public presentation, more than a year ago, involved a monkey with a brain chip that played a computer game by thinking alone. Neuralink has repeatedly missed internal deadlines to gain FDA approval to start human trials, current and former employees have said. It received US regulatory clearance for human trials last year and has completed studies in four people in Australia.

Kao, Gou alliance in Hsinchu a risk for KoBy Shih Chia-liang 施佳良In Saturday’s local elections, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) secured its place as the third force in Taiwanese politics. As party chairman, Ko only has five legislators-at-large and 14 newly elected city councilors in his pocket. Furthermore, Kao seems to consider Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) her boss and superior, more so than Ko. As she assumes office, Kao is to become a chief administrative officer in Hsinchu, and head of a local TPP faction with resources at her disposal. Through TPP headquarters in Hsinchu, Gou could have the city government acting as his central headquarters, and providing him with access to TPP members and powerbrokers.

The Liberty Times Editorial: Election win a challenge for KMTCalm reigns at last as Taiwanese mull over the results of Saturday’s hotly contested nine-in-one elections. Why was there such a big difference between that poll and the local election results? Besides, opposition parties’ election strategies are more aggressive than they used to be, and they use hatred to mobilize and replace their own nominees when others are seen as better positioned to win. Chu and Ko both made gains in the local elections, but the reversal of fortunes that took place between 2018 and 2020 shows that there is no inevitable relation between this year’s local elections, and the presidential and legislative elections of 2024. The election results have shown the international community how unpredictable Taiwan’s lively democracy can be.

Election sets stage for tense 2024 presidential raceBloombergTaiwan is set for a more contentious presidential race focused on rising tensions with China, after low turnout in local elections contributed to the Democratic People’s Party’s (DPP) massive losses. The DPP won just five of 21 city and county races on Saturday. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held on to 13 seats, and captured the mayoral seats in Taipei and Taoyuan. For both parties, the results are certain to ignite internal jockeying ahead of the presidential election in 2024, when Tsai is to step down due to term limits. “However, Hou is long-favored as the next candidate in the party.”However, the economy could play a key role in 2024 if growth continues to slow.

Retired officer and convicted spy must return pension payments, court rulesStaff Writer, with CNAThe Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a ruling that a retired military intelligence officer must return pension payments totaling about NT$1.66 million (US$53,528) after being convicted of leaking military secrets to an intermediary who passed them on to China. The verdict against the retired lieutenant colonel, surnamed Chu (朱), cannot be appealed, the supreme court said on Nov. 24 after a review of the case’s ruling, which had been handed down by a lower administrative court. Retired Military Intelligence Bureau major Wang Tsung-wu is pictured at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on March 5, 2015. In its ruling, the Taipei administrative court said due to Chu’s conviction under the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, his eligibility for a pension had been voided, a ruling that Chu then appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. Lin, a retired military officer, had been recruited by another retired Taiwanese officer named Wang Tsung-wu (王宗武), who had been recruiting spies for China and helping identify Taiwanese spies in that country.

White supremacists, neo-Nazi groups and vandals have continued to use Hitler’s symbol to stoke fear and hate. RECLAIMING A SYMBOLOver the past decade, as the Asian diaspora grew in North America, calls to reclaim the swastika as a sacred symbol became louder. Sheetal Deo and her husband, Sanmeet Deo, on Nov. 13 hold a Hindu swastika symbol in their home in Syosset, New York. Photo: APDeo believes she and people of other faiths shouldn’t have to sacrifice or apologize for a sacred symbol simply because it is often conflated with its tainted version. They supported a new California law that criminalizes the public display of it, making an exception for the sacred swastika.

Gasoline prices to fall NT$0.1 as crude faltersBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterGasoline and diesel prices are to fall NT$0.1 per liter this week due to a decline in global crude oil prices last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said in separate statements yesterday. CPC said that based on its floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil fell 6 percent last week from a week earlier, as several adverse factors dented market sentiment and depressed oil prices. “Oil prices fell last week on market rumors that OPEC and its allies plan to raise oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in December,” CPC said. A rebound in the US dollar against a collection of major currencies in the week also contributed to the crude oil price decline, CPC said. US gasoline inventories that rose to levels higher than expected and the news that the planned price cap on Russian oil by G7 nations could be above the current market level also caused downward pressure on crude oil prices, Formosa said.

Strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc said they expect Asia’s equity leadership to shift from Southeast Asia and India to markets such as China and South Korea next year. Photo: Isaac Lawrence, AFP“Of concern to us is that Southeast Asia is beginning to underperform in the last few weeks, as investors rotate back into North Asia,” CLSA chief equity strategist Alexander Redman said. The brokerage is overweight on Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea, neutral on Indonesia and underweight on India. That is not to say the road uphill for North Asia will be smooth. Equity benchmarks in China, South Korea and Taiwan are down more than 15 percent year-on-year, while those in Indonesia and India are up about 7 percent each.

Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung, left on car, waves to members of the public in Taipei yesterday to thank them for their support in Saturday’s elections. Former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang, right, who ran as an independent in the mayoral election in Taipei on Saturday, thanks supporters in the city yesterday for their support. Asked about her feelings after the election, Huang said that she believes everything in life is a task. Taipei mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an, leaning down from car, celebrates his election victory with supporters in Taipei yesterday. Huang, who the TPP endorsed ahead of the mayoral election, has abundant political experience and dedication to serve the public, Ko said.

KMT’s win hides vulnerabilitiesBy Chen Wen-ching 陳文卿Saturday’s local elections were a setback for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but it does not necessarily mean that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be victorious in the 2024 presidential election. In the 2018 local elections, the KMT also claimed victory, but the DPP triumphed in 2020. Second, the KMT is facing a major threat from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The TPP and Gou would affect the KMT’s plan, and Gou is unlikely to work with the KMT again, after how he was treated in the KMT’s most recent internal elections. Despite its terrible showing in the local elections, the DPP is still the governing party.

President Tsai Ing-wen, left, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Lin Hsi-yao bow as Tsai announces her resignation as DPP chairperson to take responsibility for the party’s performance in the local elections in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at DPP headquarters in Taipei, Tsai said she “humbly accepts” the results, which fell short of expectations. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu, second right, leads party officials in Taipei yesterday in thanking party supporters for the major win. Photo: CNAThe DPP also conceded the Hsinchu mayorship to the TPP, which has been led by an interim mayor since July when former DPP mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) stepped down to run for Taoyuan mayor. Although she did not win, independent Taipei mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who was backed by the TPP, drew 25.14 percent of the vote.

She is to become the first female mayor of Hsinchu and the youngest mayor or county commissioner ever elected in Taiwan. Shen, who trailed Kao by 10,000 votes, conceded defeat before the final results were confirmed and congratulated Kao on her win. Hsinchu City Mayor-elect Ann Kao, center, of the Taiwan People’s Party attends a victory celebration yesterday. Lin Chih-chien defeated his KMT opponent, former Hsinchu mayor Hsu Ming-tsai (許明財), in 2014 and won re-election in 2018 by a large margin over the same opponent, by 49.57 percent of the votes and 27.87 percent respectively. The Hsinchu mayor’s office is a major win for the TPP, which was founded in 2019 and participated in local elections for the first time this year.