■Retailing
Kmart recast as urban store
Kmart Corp emerged from bankruptcy yesterday as a smaller and more urban-based merchant, ending the largest reorganization by a US retailer almost 16 months after seeking protection from creditors. Kmart, the No. 3 US discounter, formalized an agreement with creditors that leaves ESL Investments Inc, the hedge fund run by Edward Lampert, as its largest investor with about a 50 percent stake. The company won court approval two weeks ago for the reorganization plan that erased US$7.8 billion in debt. The retailer slashed about 57,000 jobs while closing 599, or one third, of its stores. Many of the outlets Kmart is left with are in or near older urban areas after it failed to compete with bigger rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp in suburban and rural locations.
■ IPR protection
Communists purge piracy
More than 48,000 fake music, video and computer discs and over 1,200 books have been destroyed in Hanoi in a purge against piracy, Vietnamese officials said yesterday. A further 6,000 "illegally printed products" ranging from calendars to banners were burnt as the VCDs, DVDs, CDs and CD-Roms were ground into pieces and then cere-moniously crushed by a steamroller. Of the books destroyed, 210 contained "bad content" and 1,015 "superstitious content." The communist government still remains suspicious about pagan and other traditional beliefs, fearing they could undermine its power. Pirated goods, ranging from designer luggage to computer soft-ware, are widely available for sale in Vietnam despite repeated warnings from the World Bank about the negative impact on foreign investment.
■ Free trade
WTO approves sanctions
The EU yesterday was due to get the final go-ahead to hit the US with a record US$4.04 billion worth of trade sanctions in a long-running row over tax breaks for major exporting firms, diplomats said. The WTO was set to approve a detailed list of products against which the EU can retaliate, clearing the last hurdle to the levying of the punitive duties which the Geneva-based trade referee had agreed last August. Under WTO rules, authorization by the organization's Dispute Settlement Body yesterday afternoon is effectively automatic -- it would need a unanimous decision of all 146 WTO members, including the EU, to block it, diplomats noted. However, the EU says it will not use the new powers as long as the US government and Congress make progress on reforming a system it says gives US firms an unfair trade advantage.
■ Automotive
Yamaha's profits increase
Yamaha Motor Corp's second-half profit rose almost seven times because of cost cuts and more sales of two-wheelers and all-terrain vehicles in the US and Asia. Group net income for Yamaha, the world's second-largest motorbike maker, jumped to Japanese Yen 14.1 billion (US$120 million) in the six months to March 31, from Japanese Yen 2.05 billion a year earlier. Sales rose 8.6 percent to Japanese Yen 487.2 billion, from Japanese Yen 448.5 billion. Second-half figures were derived by subtracting first-half results from those for the full year. Yamaha plans to trim total costs 30 percent. The company will rely more on sales of smaller, cheaper bikes in Southeast Asia and China as demand in the US, its most profitable market, slows and the yen strengthens against the US dollar.
Agencies
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique