■ ELECTRONICS
LG posts quarter profit
LG Electronics Inc said yesterday that it swung to a net profit in the second quarter from a loss the year before, boosted by sales of mobile phones and appliances. The company, South Korea's largest consumer appliance manufacturer and a major global producer of cellphone handsets, earned 385 billion won (US$420 million) in the three months ended June 30, it said in a statement. LG posted a net loss of 9.7 billion won a year earlier. Sales rose 1.7 percent to 5.9 trillion won from 5.80 trillion won a year earlier.
■ FINANCE
US may charge Dow's Li
Dow Jones board member David Li said yesterday that US securities regulators are considering legal action against him as part of a trading investigation, but the Hong Kong banker denied wrongdoing. Li said in a statement that the US Securities and Exchange Commission informed him that it is considering "civil enforcement action" against him for alleged violations of US securities laws. The possible legal case against Li stems from an earlier lawsuit filed by the SEC against two other Hong Kong residents accused of illegal trading activity.
■ FINANCE
Barclays puts up a fight
Barclays PLC said yesterday it is considering altering its all-share offer for ABN Amro Holding NV in order to remain competitive with a higher rival offer from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC. The RBS group intends to bid 71.1 billion euros (US$97.8 billion), mostly in cash, for the Dutch bank, in the largest takeover battle in the history of the financial industry. Barclays' current proposed bid, all in shares, is worth at least 10 percent less. Barclays said yesterday that it is considering "possible alternative ... offer structures, including [the] introduction of a partial cash consideration."
■ ELECTRONICS
Toshiba recalls batteries
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp announced yesterday it began recalling about 5,100 Sony-made batteries for laptop computers in Japan and overseas. Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said there have been three cases in which the batteries caught fire between September and last month. There were no injuries from the three fires; two in Japan and one in Australia, he said. The battery models to be recalled are different from those returned in a massive recall of Sony Corp lithium-ion battery packs last year. Subjects to recall are a total 5,100 batteries sold in Japan, the US, Europe, Australia and China, used for Dynabook, Dynabook Satellite, Satellite and Tecra, the spokesman said.
■ CHINA
Steps listed to cool growth
China's sizzling economy expanded by a stunning 11.9 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, the government said yesterday, announcing that it would take new steps to cool the boom. The figures put China on track for a fifth straight year of expansion above 10 percent and moved it closer to overtaking slower-growing Germany as the world's third-largest economy. Inflation grew 4.4 percent last month, its fastest rate in more than two years, and the economy also is under pressure from a swollen trade imbalance and high energy consumption, the National Statistics Bureau said. Growth from April to last month exceeded forecasts and was a sharp rise over the 11.1 percent rate in the first quarter.
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