■ Technology
Sony, Hitachi delay reports
Sony Corp and Hitachi Ltd will delay earnings reports because they need more time to prepare for US accounting rules. Sony, which relies on the US for about 30 percent of sales, said yesterday it would delay results for this fiscal year ending March 31 by about three weeks to May 16. Hitachi will postpone earnings to mid-May. The Tokyo-based companies said a "large" number of subsidiaries slows paperwork preparation. Accounting standards under the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which aim to protect investors from fraudulent activities, were extended to foreign firms listed in the US last year. Toyota Motor Corp and Mizuho Financial Group Inc yesterday said they had no plan to delay results.
■ South Korea
Paulson positive on growth
South Korean Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sounded optimistic yesterday about sustained growth in the US economy, despite concerns about the country's housing market. The ministry also said in a statement, issued after his meeting with Kwon in Seoul, that both officials agreed to cooperate over an early and smooth conclusion in free trade agreement negotiations. "Secretary Paulson assessed that the US economy was successfully entering into a stable growth path, despite a slump in the US real estate market," the ministry said in the Korean-language statement.
■ United Kingdom
British are bargain hunters
British consumers are among those most likely to shop around for a financial bargain, according to independent market analyst Datamonitor. It found that customer loyalty continues to decline across European retail banking markets, particularly in Britain and Nordic countries. The UK is one of the most competitive and developed retail banking markets in the world, with highly aggressive players and cutthroat pricing, Datamonitor said. Consumers tend to shop around most for credit cards, personal loans and mortgages, while those in Italy, Spain and Austria are the most loyal to financial services providers.
■ Retail
Free shipping offered
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, is offering free shipping of items ordered online and picked up at one of more than 750 stores. Wal-Mart plans to expand the program to the remainder of its more than 3,300 US Wal-Mart stores by September, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said today in a statement. Tens of thousands of items are included in the program. About two-thirds of customers who have used the service, which Wal-Mart started testing in 2004, shop at Wal-Mart stores at least once a week, Walmart.com Chief executive officer Raul Vazquez said in the statement.
■ Economics
Japan to name board two
Japan's government will appoint a vice president of Japan's largest trading company and a shipping company executive to the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board, a newspaper reported yesterday. The government decided yesterday to appoint Mitsubishi Corp vice president Hidetoshi Kamezaki and MOL Ferry Co president Seiji Nakamura to replace two board members whose terms expire in April, the Nikkei business daily said. Financial markets are watching closely to see who the government will name for the Bank's policy board.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2