■CRIME
Danny Pang allowed bail
A US federal magistrate has ruled that California-based financier Danny Pang (彭日成) can be released on US$1 million bail following his arrest on a complaint alleging he evaded currency reporting laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit last week against Pang and the company he founded, Private Management Group, accusing him of bilking investors by falsely portraying returns as coming from investments when the money instead came from a pyramid scheme.
■ELECTRONICS
Fujitsu announces losses
Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd said yesterday it suffered a ¥112.4 billion (US$1.15 billion) net loss for the business year through March due to the global economic crisis. The loss, which compares with a ¥48.1 billion profit a year earlier, was more than twice as big as the company’s own forecast. In addition to weak sales, restructuring costs weighed heavily on the bottom line. The company expects to return to the black in the current business year, projecting a net profit of ¥20 billion, an operating profit of ¥80 billion and revenue of ¥4.8 trillion.
■TELECOMS
Softbank makes record profit
Japanese Internet and telecom company Softbank Corp yesterday reported a record operating profit for the past financial year despite lower sales of mobile telephones. Softbank booked an operating profit of ¥359.12 billion in the year to March, up 10.7 percent from the previous year, while net profit plunged 60.3 percent to ¥43.17 billion partly on the early redemption of bonds and book losses on broadband infrastructure.
■AVIATION
Lufthansa reports losses
Germany’s leading airline Lufthansa posted yesterday a first-quarter net loss of 256 million euros (US$290 million), compared with a profit of 44 million euros in the same period a year earlier. On Wednesday, Lufthansa had reported an operating loss of 44 million euros in the first three months of the year and said it expected a drop in sales this year because of a dip in short-term demand for flights.
■BANKING
BOA chairman removed
Bank of America’s (BOA) shareholders on Wednesday removed Kenneth Lewis from the chairman’s post, but he will remain the chief executive, the US banking giant said. The decision to oust Lewis, who had angered shareholders by acquiring Merrill Lynch without informing them of the investment bank’s massive losses, was taken at the company’s annual meeting. Shareholders narrowly approved a proposal to change the firm’s by-laws to require an “independent chairman,” the bank said in a statement late on Wednesday.
■FINANCE
New rules on reporting
Beijing announced rules that ease controls on foreign financial information providers yesterday under an agreement with the US, Europe and Canada, but said those already operating in China must apply for permission to continue. The rules drop a requirement that foreign providers must work through a Chinese agent and reduces the amount of information they must disclose about their operations. Trade officials said the settlement would help Thomson Reuters Corp, Bloomberg LP and Dow Jones & Co. Xinhua was replaced as the industry regulator in February with a Cabinet body, the State Council Information Office, after complaints that Xinhua should not be allowed to regulate its competitors.
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