■ELECTRONICS
Sharp remains in the red
Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp said yesterday it was stuck in the red in the six months through September, hit by fierce price competition in the flat-panel TV market. Sharp booked a net loss of ¥17.72 billion (US$196 million) the first half of its business year, against a profit of ¥28.01 billion in the same period last year. Revenue tumbled 17.5 percent to ¥1.29 trillion, hit by weak prices of liquid-crystal displays, a core product for the group.
■OIL
Shell profit dives 62 percent
Oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported a 62 percent fall in profit for the third quarter, as weakness in the global economy pushed oil prices and refining margins down. Europe’s largest oil company said net profit reached US$3.25 billion, down from US$8.45 billion in the same period a year ago. Sales fell 43 percent to US$75 billion. Shell CEO Peter Voser said yesterday the company was not expecting a fast recovery and would cut some 5,000 job this year.
■BANKING
Deutsche income climbs
Deutsche Bank AG said yesterday that tax credits helped push its third-quarter earnings nearly three times higher as revenue increased. Germany’s biggest bank by assets earned 1.4 billion euros (US$2.07 billion) in the July-September period compared with 414 million euros a year earlier. The gain was propelled by some 369 million euros in tax benefits. Revenue rose 64 percent to 7.2 billion euros compared with 4.4 billion euros in the same quarter last year.
■CHEMICALS
BASF net profit plunges
German chemical company BASF SE said yesterday its net income fell 69 percent in the third quarter as the global downturn continued to affect demand and prices for the company’s products. BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, said net income fell to 237 million euros (US$348 million) from 758 million euros in the July-September period last year. Revenue for the period fell 19 percent to 12.8 billion euros from 15.7 billion euros in the third quarter last year. “Following the global economic downturn at the end of 2008, our business has stabilized at a low level during the course of the year,” BASF said in its report.
■TELECOMS
Samsung opens new plant
A new mobile phone plant in Vietnam opened by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics aims to generate an annual export turnover of US$5 billion by next year, the Hanoi government said yesterday. Samsung plans to initially produce 1.5 million handsets a month in its new northern Bac Ninh province plant and hopes to increase the production to 6 million units a month next year. The plant should generate jobs for more than 10,000 workers, the Vietnamese government said on its Web site.
■MANUFACTURING
S Korea confidence rises
Manufacturing confidence in South Korea rose to a seven-year high this month, the central bank said yesterday, the latest in a series of figures that highlight an improving economy. The Bank of Korea’s index of conditions in the manufacturing sector rose to 92 this month from 90 the previous month, the bank said in a release. Despite the higher number, a reading below 100 means that pessimists still outnumber optimists. The consumer confidence figure for this month, announced on Tuesday, also came in at the highest in more than seven years.
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