■ ALUMINUM
Alcoa profits grow
Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc said on Tuesday its first-quarter profit rose nearly 9 percent as favorable metal prices and strong sales boosted results. The company earned US$662 million, or US$0.75 per share, during the first three months of the year compared with US$608 million, or US$0.69 per share, during the same period last year. Revenue climbed 11 percent to US$7.9 billion, from US$7.1 billion a year earlier, because of higher metal prices, the company said. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial on average expected earnings of US$0.76 per share on revenue of US$7.65 billion. Alcoa shares climbed 13 percent during the quarter. Alcoa shares have traded between US$26.39 and US$36.96 in the past 52 weeks.
■ AUTOMAKERS
Union fears bid on Chrysler
The head of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) says he will try to thwart billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's bid for Chrysler, fearing Kerkorian will cost thousands of workers their jobs. CAW president Buzz Hargrove said on Tuesday that Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp, as well as private equity investors who are studying Chrysler, have a history of hurting workers. "We don't have much confidence or trust in Mr Kerkorian," Hargrove said in a telephone interview. "He's made billions by coming in, buying low, cutting jobs and throwing people out of work, then selling." The CAW represents about 11,000 Chrysler workers in Canada. Its contract with Chrysler does not expire until September next year.
■ BANKING
Citigroup cuts 17,000 jobs
Citigroup Inc said yesterday that it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs as part of a company-wide restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit. That amounts to about 5 percent of the bank's 327,000-strong work force. The New York-based bank said in a statement that with previously announced information technology savings, the overhaul will save it about US$2.1 billion this year, US$3.7 billion next year and US$4.6 billion in 2009. Citigroup said it will record a pretax charge of US$1.38 billion in the first quarter of this year, and additional charges totaling approximately US$200 million pretax over the subsequent quarters.
■ FOOD
Pet food recall extended
The North American pet food recall expanded on Tuesday to include products made at a Canadian factory recently found to have used an ingredient tainted by an industrial chemical. Menu Foods previously had recalled only cat and dog food made at its plants in New Jersey and Kansas. However, it discovered on Monday that some of the tainted wheat gluten had made it to Canada. Among the products covered by the expanded recall is Royal Canin Canada's Medi-Cal Feline Dissolution Formula canned diet.
■ HOUSING
British prices double
Average house prices in Britain have more than doubled in 15 years, forcing many to continue to live with their parents for longer, according to a government report published yesterday. Last year, 58 percent of men and 39 percent of women age 20 to 24 in England were living with their parents, up 8 percent and 7 percent respectively from 1991, the Office of National Statistics said. The average cost of housing for first-time buyers increased by 204 percent between 1991 and 2005.
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
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
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
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