■BANKING
Nomura to double US staff
Japan’s Nomura Holdings plans to roughly double its US-based staff to 1,200 over the next six months, a source close to the company said yesterday, as the brokerage giant expands its operations there. Nomura, which last year snapped up failed US bank Lehman Brothers’ assets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, said this week it aimed to raise ¥432.8 billion (US$4.9 billion) to beef up its global businesses. Nomura declined to confirm the planned hirings.
■ELECTRONICS
Japanese readying 3D TVs
Japan’s big name electronic manufacturers are readying flat-screen TVs that can show high-definition movies and video games in 3D for launch next year. At the country’s biggest consumer electronics show that opened yesterday just outside of Tokyo all the major makers displayed 3D prototypes. Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp said they would bring their first models to market next year. The companies are plowing ahead even before there is much content available, with corporate spokesmen saying only that preparation is under way.
■BANKING
French bank to raise capital
French bank Societe Generale said yesterday that it would raise capital by 4.8 billion euros (US$7.1 billion) to pay back state aid it had received to help it through the financial crisis. The government had provided Societe Generale with 3.4 billion euros, part of nearly 20 billion euros loaned to French banks with interest to keep lending from drying up. Its capital increase will also “enable Societe Generale to seize potential external growth opportunities,” the bank said.
■AVIATION
No foreign money for JAL
Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) has put on hold its plan to seek a capital tie-up with a foreign carrier to concentrate on other restructuring measures, a report said. JAL, which is seeking a government bailout to keep flying, hopes to resume negotiations with US carriers Delta Air Lines and American Airlines after drawing up a turnaround plan, Kyodo News reported late on Monday. Asia’s largest airline decided to give priority to other restructuring measures such as cutting jobs and unprofitable routes, it quoted unnamed sources as saying.
■AUTOMOBILES
Bosch may post historic loss
The world’s leading auto parts maker, Bosch, could lose up to 3 billion euros this year, its first loss since World War II, a press report said yesterday. Bosch had posted a net profit of 372 million euros last year, which was already a drop of 87 percent from the previous year. A spokesman for the German group declined to comment on the report in the business daily Handelsblatt, terming it “market speculation.”
■RETAILING
Tesco profits rise
Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco said yesterday that net profits rose 1.3 percent in the first half of its financial year, boosted by acquisitions, and added it was well placed for economic recovery. Profits after tax advanced to £1.027 billion (US$1.65 billion) in the six months to Aug. 29, which compared with £1.014 billion in the same period last year, Tesco said in a statement. Worldwide group revenues meanwhile swelled by 9.3 percent to £27.8 billion in the reporting period, during which Tesco created 6,500 jobs despite the global economic downturn.
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