■ Business
Profit margins fall
Top South Korean companies saw their profit margins fall in the past two years due to the won's strength, weakening competitiveness and rising raw material prices, official data showed yesterday. The combined operating margin of the top 30 listed companies dropped from 12 percent in 2004 to 9.4 percent in 2005 and 7.8 percent last year, said the Korea Exchange, which operates both the stock spot and futures markets plus the high-tech KOSDAQ board.
■ Internet
Web police on the hunt
South Korean police said yesterday they are hunting the Internet users who posted pornographic clips that became the most viewed videos on Yahoo Korea. The portal publicly apologized over the clips, posted for more than six hours from late on Sunday on its multimedia service "Yammi." "Our staff failed to notice the obscene video clips for hours until the clips became the two most viewed videos on the site," a spokeswoman for Yahoo Korea said. The cyber crime team at Seoul police said this kind of crime can be punished with up to one year's imprisonment or a 10 million won (US$10,600) fine.
■ Shipping
FedEx to offer new service
US logistics giant FedEx said yesterday it will offer next-business-day domestic express service in China in a bid to take advantage of the country's fast-growing economy. The new service, beginning on May 28, will offer next-day delivery services both within China and around the world. "Up to 90 percent of existing FedEx customers in China have expressed the need for a reliable domestic express service," said Eddy Chan, senior vice president of FedEx China. "This is a strong signal to us that many companies view domestic express service in China as a catalyst for growth and competitiveness in this exploding market."
■ Mergers
ABN in talks with Barclays
ABN Amro Holding NV, the Netherlands' largest bank, said on Monday it was in preliminary talks to be acquired by British bank Barclays PLC. In a statement, ABN said the talks were "exclusive preliminary discussions with Barclays PLC concerning a potential combination of the two organizations." Barclays, which would be the senior partner in a merger, said on Monday that it would update the market on its position toward ABN by yesterday. If it takes place, the deal would be one of the biggest cross-border mergers in European banking history.
■ Securities
China imposes restrictions
China has banned firms flush with new share sale proceeds from investing the money in securities in the latest regulatory move aimed at cooling stock market fever, the government said yesterday. "Companies should not directly or indirectly use newly acquired funds to buy stocks or derivatives or convertible company bonds," the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its Web site. Firms must use the proceeds from share sales for the intended purposes, the statement said. If the enterprises intend to spend more than 10 percent of the raised capital on items that the share sale was not originally aimed at funding, they must get board approval and arrange an online shareholder vote, it said.
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