■ WEB RETAIL
Amazon's profits surge
Web retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday its first-quarter profit more than doubled, sending shares up more than 12 percent in after-hours trading. The company also raised its revenue outlook for the year. Earnings for the first three months of the year rose to US$111 million, or US$0.26 per share, from US$51 million, or US$0.12 per share, during the same period last year. Revenue rose 32 percent to US$3.02 billion, surpassing Wall Street's expectation of US$2.92 billion in sales. For the second quarter, Amazon.com said it expects revenue between US$2.70 billion and US$2.85 billion.
■ IPR
US studios win lawsuit
Six major US movie studios have won a lawsuit against a Beijing company for selling counterfeit DVDs of their films, Chinese state media reported yesterday. A Beijing court ordered Beijing Cherry Blossom Star Culture Co and an affiliated DVD shop to stop the sales and pay 195,000 yuan (US$25,000) to the studios, the official Xinhua news agency said. The US movie houses -- Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney -- had asked for 2.46 million yuan in damages. The company admitted its connection to the shop but said it could not pay the requested damages.
■ ELECTRONICS
Sharp reports record profit
Sharp Corp yesterday reported a fourth consecutive year of record profit thanks to fast-growing sales of flat-screen televisions. Sharp, Japan's largest liquid-crystal-display panel maker, said its net profit rose 14.7 percent to ¥101.72 billion (US$859 million) in the year to last month on revenue of ¥3.13 trillion, up 11.8 percent. Sales of audio-visual and communication equipment jumped 26.6 percent in value in the year and are expected to rise a further 16.6 percent this year. The company forecast a fifth record annual performance, projecting a 3.2 percent rise in net profit for the next 12 months to ¥105 billion.
■ REAL ESTATE
US home sales plummet
US home sales plummeted dramatically last month as the market endured its biggest monthly fall in more than 18 years, dashing hopes of a sales turnaround, new industry figures showed on Tuesday. The National Association of Realtors said existing US home sales sank a heavy 8.4 percent to an annualized pace of 6.12 million units last month. The drop in homes sales was the largest since January 1989 when sales dived 12.6 percent, and sales are now at their lowest ebb since June of 2003. The sharp decline, which affected most regions, came after sales rose for three straight months.
■ TRADE
China overtakes US
Japan's trade with China excluding Hong Kong in the latest fiscal year surpassed its trade with the US for the first time, Japan said yesterday. Exports and imports between Japan and China rose to ?25.43 trillion (US$214.62 billion) for the year through last month, up 9.6 percent from the previous year. While Japan's overall trade with China including Hong Kong exceeded trade with the US as early as 2004, the new milestone reflects the economic might of China's mainland market. Japanese exports to mainland China rose 21.2 percent, while imports grew 13.0 percent.
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