■ INVESTMENT
China surpasses Japan
China became the largest foreign holder of US treasuries in September ahead of Japan, the US Treasury Department reported in figures released on Tuesday. China held US$585 billion in treasuries, while Japan held US$573.2 billion, the figures showed. In August, Japan held US$586 billions in treasuries, while China owned US$541.4 billion. The US long has relied on foreign purchases of government-issued bonds to finance its huge debt. The third-largest foreign holder is Britain, with US$228.4 billion.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Nissan expects zero profits
Nissan Motor Co expects “zero” profits in the second half of this financial year as the global economic crisis deepens, chief executive Carlos Ghosn said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published yesterday. “We have to recognize 2009 will be one of the most challenging years for our industry and the whole economy in the last 50 years,” he told the Journal. “I don’t think anybody would be expecting peak performance.” Renault’s operating-profit margins for this year will be about 2.5 percent, well short of earlier goals, he was quoted as saying. Ghosn also heads Nissan’s French partner Renault.
■ COMPUTERS
HP expects higher earnings
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) surprised Wall Street on Tuesday by saying its earnings will be slightly above analysts’ expectations, going against the grain as other technology bellwethers slash forecasts and post weak results in the sagging economy. Its shares climbed more than 14 percent. The California-based computer and printer maker expects earnings of US$0.84 per share and adjusted earnings of US$1.03 per share for the three months ended in October. This is slightly better than the US$1 per share, excluding items, that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting. HP forecast revenue of US$33.6 million, just ahead of analysts’ expectations of US$33.09 billion. The company plans to release full quarterly results on Monday.
■ ELECTRONICS
Panasonic consolidating
Panasonic Corp will consolidate its plasma-panel production in Japan to cut costs. It aims to save ¥4 billion (US$41 million) a year by moving production of panels for plasma TVs from a factory in Osaka to one in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Panasonic currently makes 120,000 units of plasma panels a month at the plant in Osaka, where it is based. The company will stop the panel-making operation at that factory next month, converting the facility to a development base for liquid-crystal-display panels and organic-electroluminescent panels.
■ GAMBLING
Sands blames China, Macau
The Chinese and Macau governments were partly to blame for Las Vegas Sands’ decision to halt work on a huge casino project, the US gaming giant’s president told the South China Morning Post yesterday. “There have been some changes in the [Chinese] central government’s attitude towards Macau,” William Weidner said. “We don’t think it’s necessarily all that prudent to put more money in [the project] until we see how that attitude works its way out.” Beijing has toughened visa policies for Chinese visitors to Macau in recent months in an effort to cool growth. The move resulted in a 10 percent drop in gaming revenues for the third quarter, Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau 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