■COMPUTERS
Oracle revenue drops 5%
Business software maker Oracle reported a 5 percent decline in quarterly revenue on Wednesday as businesses held off on buying new software. The Silicon Valley company said its sales dropped to US$5.1 billion, but the company managed to increase profits by 8 percent to US$1.1 billion, compared with US$1.07 billion in the same quarter last year. The company said that sales of new software sank 17 percent to US$1 billion, but were offset by a rise in software updates and product-support revenues of 6 percent to US$3.1 billion.
■INVESTMENT
Temasek profit plunges
Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings said yesterday its net profit plunged 67 percent to 6 billion Singapore dollars (US$4.25 billion) in the year to March. Net profit fell from the record S$18 billion achieved in the previous financial year ending March last year as a result of the global financial crisis. The value of its worldwide investment portfolio also fell by 30 percent to S$130 billion as of end-March this year from S$185 billion the previous financial year.
■AVIATION
Aeroflot to cut 2,000 jobs
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot plans to slash 2,000 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce, in the next half-year, a company spokeswoman said yesterday, after its profits dropped amid higher fuel prices. “Our general director has said that up to 2,000 jobs will be cut by the end of year or first quarter of next year,” the spokeswoman Irina Dannenberg said. “Maybe even more but for now 2,000.” Interfax news agency cited a company insider as saying Aeroflot had already cut 500 jobs and planned to cut up to 6,000 jobs after its profits slid due to higher fuel prices and net losses in its cargo operations.
■ENERGY
Doosan signs Saudi deal
South Korean firm Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction said yesterday it has secured a US$1.04 billion deal to build a power plant in Saudi Arabia. The company in a regulatory filing said that, along with its Saudi partner BEMCO, it would build a 1,330-megawatt plant near the eastern city of Damman by 2013. Under the contract with the Saudi Electricity Company to be signed next month, Doosan Heavy will provide steam turbines, heat recovery steam generators and other major elements for the plant.
■TAKEOVERS
Kirin bids for Lion Nathan
Shareholders in Australian beverages giant Lion Nathan voted overwhelmingly in favor of a A$3.3 billion (US$2.9 billion) takeover offer from Japan’s Kirin yesterday. Kirin, Japan’s biggest brewer by revenue, already owns 46.13 percent of Lion Nathan and shareholders voted 98.75 percent in favor of handing over the remaining 53.87 percent.
■ELECTRONICS
NEC, Renesas create tie-up
Renesas Technology Corp and NEC Electronics Corp will combine operations by April after their Japanese parent companies agreed to inject ¥200 billion (US$2.2 billion) into a new company that would become the world’s No. 3 chipmaker. After the deal is completed, NEC Corp, the parent of NEC Electronics, will have 33.4 percent stake in the new company — Renesas Electronics Corp, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday. Existing Renesas Technology shareholders Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric will own 30.7 percent and 25.1 percent respectively.
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
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
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
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