??FINANCE
Citigroup sells more stock
Citigroup Inc, under pressure to bolster capital depleted by mounting losses, sold another US$4.5 billion in stock, the company said on Wednesday. The move aims to help bolster its capital as it fights to stay above the worst US finance crisis in decades. The amount was 50 percent more than it had planned and represents about 3 percent of the bank?? shares outstanding as of March 31, Bloomberg financial news service reported. The bank has already raised more than US$37 billion during the past five months, more than any other financial services company. Last week, Citigroup announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs in the wake of a first-quarter net loss of US$5.11 billion. The cuts come atop the 4,200 job reductions announced in January.
??ELECTRONICS
Casio expects profits to soar
Casio Computer Co, the maker of G Shock watches, said profit may rise 89 percent this fiscal year as the devices business turns profitable and sales of digital cameras and electronic dictionaries rise. Net income is likely to climb to 瞼23 billion (US$221 million) in the 12 months started April 1, the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. Operating profit may increase 25 percent to 瞼47 billion in the period, as sales gain 1.1 percent to 瞼630 billion, the Tokyo-based company said. Profit at the devices division may total 瞼500 million this fiscal year, compared with a 瞼3.26 billion loss a year earlier, the company said. Sales may drop 25 percent to 瞼72 billion.
??VENEZUELA
Chavez raising basic wage
President Hugo Chavez is raising Venezuela?? minimum wage by 30 percent as inflation continues to soar in the oil-producing nation. The socialist leader has signed a degree that will fix the monthly minimum wage at US$372 starting yesterday. Chavez said the move would give Venezuela the highest minimum wage in Latin America. All public employees??wages will also increase by 30 percent. If food stamps are taken into account, Chavez says the minimum wage will actually reach US$558.
??FAST FOOD
Starbucks posts profit fall
US coffeehouse giant Starbucks reported second-quarter profits of US$109 million, or US$0.15 a share, a drop of 28 percent from the US$151 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 12 percent to US$2.53 billion from US$2.3 billion in the second quarter of last year. In a statement Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said the profit drop resulted from costs related to the company?? turnaround, calling this year a transitional year and predicting that growth would return in the long term. Starbucks said the weak economy had caused a mid-single-digit drop in same store sales compared to last year. But the rising costs of dairy products and changes in store organization were the main causes of the lower-than-expected revenues.
??AVIATION
BA mulling alliance
British Airways said on Wednesday it was examining closer cooperation with US carriers American Airlines and Continental Airlines but gave no additional information. ??ritish Airways is exploring opportunities for cooperation with American Airlines and Continental Airlines,??BA said in a very brief statement to the London Stock Exchange. ??urther details will be announced when appropriate.??The announcement followed recent media speculation that Continental was seeking a three-way alliance with American Airlines and British Airways.
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
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
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,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the