■MINING
Rio Tinto doubles stake
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto doubled its stake in Canada’s Ivanhoe to nearly 20 percent yesterday, just weeks after the two companies signed off on a landmark Mongolian copper-gold project. Rio spent some US$388 million on the new investment, raising its share of ownership by 9.8 percent to 19.7 percent, a statement said. The company said it would own 43.1 percent of Ivanhoe if it converted all of its warrants and securities, adding that it had “no present intention” of increasing its stake further.
■ELECTRONICS
Fujitsu earnings surge
Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd yesterday said quarterly earnings surged as gains on the sale of investment securities offset continued weak demand for its products. Fujitsu posted a bigger-than-expected profit of ¥72.4 billion (US$794 million) for the fiscal second quarter through September, against a year-earlier profit of ¥4.2 billion. Operating profit tumbled 42 percent to ¥18.9 billion and revenue fell 10.5 percent to ¥1.14 trillion. The company said it was on course to meet its forecast for a net profit of ¥95 billion in the year to next March, after a loss of ¥112.4 billion the previous year.
■SOFTWARE
SAP earnings fall short
German software group SAP warned yesterday that sales this year will be less than previously expected after its third-quarter earnings fell short of forecasts. SAP said its third-quarter net profit rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 435 million euros (US$645 million) but this compared with analyst forecasts compiled by Dow Jones Newswires for 443 million euros. The German group said software revenues shed 31 percent to 525 million euros, below analyst estimates for 570 million euros. Total sales fell 9 percent to 2.5 billion euros in the third quarter.
■SOFTWARE
HCL quarterly profit drops
Indian software services firm HCL Technologies Ltd said quarterly profit fell 12.3 percent as foreign exchange losses dented rebounding revenues from the US and from media and financial services clients. “Though there are signs of an early recovery in sectors like financial services, we continue to be cautious,” chairman Shiv Nadar said in a statement yesterday. “We continue to see sustained recovery only by next year.” HCL’s profit, however, beat expectations with earnings of 3.2 billion rupees (US$66.5 million) in the July-September quarter, 12.3 percent less than the same period last year. Revenue was 30.31 billion rupees, a 25.8 percent increase over the year-earlier period.
■SECURITIES
Nomura declares ‘success’
Japan’s top securities firm, Nomura, declared its purchase of large parts of failed US bank Lehman Brothers “a resounding success” yesterday as it posted a second straight quarterly profit. Nomura Holdings posted net earnings of ¥27.7 billion for the fiscal second quarter through September, against a year-earlier loss of ¥72.9 billion. “After one year of combined operations, the acquisitions have been a resounding success,” Nomura chief executive Kenichi Watanabe said in a statement. Nomura plunged to a record net loss of ¥709.4 billion in the year to last March, battered by the global economic crisis. It returned to profit in April-June of this year for the first time in six quarters.
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