■BANKING
UK bank profit rises 4%
Standard Chartered LLC, the British bank that makes more than 90 percent of its pretax earnings in Asia, said full-year profit rose to a record as corporate lending rose. Net income climbed 4.3 percent to US$3.38 billion from a restated US$3.24 billion a year earlier, the bank said in a statement yesterday. Standard Chartered said this year had “begun well” for both wholesale and consumer banking businesses. The lender raised about £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) in a share sale in August to increase capital strength and to fund expansion in Asia.
■TOYS
US fines Japan’s Daiso
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday slapped a hefty US$2 million fine on US subsidiaries of Japanese retailer Daiso because of accusations that they imported lead-tainted toys and dangerous children’s products. The commission also said the companies, based in California and Washington state, would not be allowed to import children’s products until they are proven safe. Since 2008, Daiso California LLC and Daiso Seattle LLC have had five recalls of 698 toys and other children’s products. They included small wooden toys, stuffed animals, purses and ponchos and were sold in Daiso stores in California and Washington for under US$5 each. While the total number of recalled items was relatively small and no injuries were reported, the head of the commission said the civil penalty and consent decree barring imports sends a message. “This landmark agreement for an injunction sets a precedent for any firm attempting to distribute hazardous products to our nation’s children,” commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum said. Yoshi Murata, a senior executive at Daiso, said the company accepted the fine and would make sure the products it imports are safe.
■TRANSPORT
Finnish union on strike
Transport workers in Finland began a strike on Tuesday to halt the transport of raw materials and products and much of the country’s bus traffic. The strike came a day after the Transport Workers Union rejected a mediation proposal by National Conciliator Esa Lonka in a labor dispute. Lonka was meeting with representatives of the union and employer organizations as the strike began at 6pm. It was not immediately clear if he would present a new proposal or ask the unions to call off the walkout. Earlier on Tuesday, the prime minister appealed for a solution to the dispute so the impact of the strike would be minimal “in the grave economic situation.”
■INTERNET
Google found in Kansas
A city in Kansas seeking to be a test hub for a high-speed broadband network being built by Google has temporarily changed its name to “Google.” Topeka Mayor William Bunten issued a proclamation declaring that, for this month, the Kansas capital would be known as “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.” The official city Web site, Topeka.org, welcomes visitors to “The City of Google” — written in the large colorful letters the Internet search giant is known for — and includes a link to the mayor’s proclamation. Google said last month that it planned to build experimental, ultra high-speed broadband networks that would deliver Internet speeds 100 times faster than those of today. It said the envisioned one-gigabit-per-second networks would be built in “a small number of trial locations” in the US. Communities have until March 26 to make their interest known to Google.
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