■AUTOMOBILES
GM denies SAIC deal
General Motors Corp does not plan to sell its stake in a joint venture with local partner SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), a spokesman for the US automaker said yesterday. “There is no truth to the story that we are planning to sell Shanghai GM shares to our partner SAIC,” said Henry Wong, a Shanghai-based spokesman for the company.
■CHEMICALS
Dow to reduce bonuses
The largest US chemical maker, Dow Chemical, will cut its bonuses for the first time in almost 100 years because of the economic crisis and massive financial problems, the company announced on Thursday. The firm’s disbursement in the next quarter will be US$0.15, which is only a third of the amount paid last time. Starting in 1912, the company never had to reduce its bonus. Up to the beginning of this year, Dow Chemical denied it would have to do so. Last week, Dow Chemical reported a loss of US$1.6 billion in the last quarter of last year, compared with a US$472 million profit in 2007.
■ALUMINUM
Alcoa partners with Henan
US-based Alcoa on Thursday announced a “strategic cooperation agreement” with Henan Province in China on primary and fabricated aluminum products. The agreement was signed on Wednesday at Alcoa’s New York headquarters by company president and chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld and Henan Governor Guo Gengmao (郭庚茂). “By combining the strengths of Henan Province, an area with abundant energy and natural resources, and Alcoa’s technology and market leadership, we are aiming to establish a globally competitive base for aluminum production in China,” Kleinfeld said.
■STEEL
ThyssenKrupp profits down
ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s largest steelmaker, said yesterday company profits dropped sharply in the fiscal first quarter and that it would cut jobs as the world economic crisis caused a sharp fall in demand for steel. The Duesseldorf-based company said net profit in the quarter from October to December fell 63 percent to 163 million euros (US$210 million). Sales for the quarter fell by 6 percent to 11.5 billion euros. Ekkehard Schulz, Thyssen’s chief executive, said the company expected similar business conditions in the second quarter and that a full-year outlook was difficult to make given the ongoing economic situation.
■ELECTRONICS
Panasonic urges staff to buy
Panasonic Corp is urging its 10,000 managers in Japan to buy the company’s products to boost sales and help reverse a profit plunge, a spokesman said yesterday. Executives and senior managers are being asked to buy at least ¥200,000 (US$2,200) in Panasonic goods, such as refrigerators, flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray disc players, by July, said Akira Kadota, the spokesman. Lower level managers are asked to buy at least ¥100,000 worth of such products, he said.
■STOCKS
Lehman head to lead LSE
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has appointed Xavier Rolet, the former head of Lehman Brothers in France, as its new chief executive, the LSE said yesterday. Rolet will join the LSE board on March 16 and will take over as chief executive on May 20, it said in a statement. LSE shares, which peaked at over £17 a year ago, have fallen sharply amid concerns that the financial market downturn will curb equity trading volumes.
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