■ENERGY
Peabody, Coal India in talks
Peabody Energy, a top US coal company, is in talks with India’s Coal India about long-term coal supplies and other potential tie-ups, the companies said in a statement on Monday. The talks “are at very early stages and there have been no final agreements or decisions made regarding timing or structure,” they said. “Peabody recognizes growing long-term coal demand in India, which may be the world’s fastest-growing coal importer.”
■RETAIL
LVMH Q1 sales rose 11%
LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury company, yesterday reported an 11 percent jump in sales as buyers snap up watches, jewelry and high-end drinks after months of economic gloom. Sales rose to 4.47 billion euros (US$6.07 billion) — higher than the 4.25 billion euros expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, thanks in particular to the Asian market, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton said. Affected by the financial crisis, Paris-based LVMH last year saw net profit fall 13 percent and sales slip 1 percent last year.
■ELECTRONICS
Samsung eyes new market
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, already the world’s top memory-chip and flat-screen TV maker, said yesterday it aimed to become the global leader in washing machine sales by 2013. Launching 11 new front-loading models, the firm said it had set a global sales target of 8 million units this year, up 33 percent from 6 million last year. “Based on our performance so far this year, this year’s target is achievable,” said Park Je-seung, sales and marketing chief of the company’s home appliance division.
■STEEL
POSCO net profit quadruples
South Korea’s leading steelmaker, POSCO, said yesterday its first-quarter net profit more than quadrupled from a year earlier thanks to rising demand and higher steel prices. Net profit was 1.44 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 325 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales reached 6.95 trillion won in the first quarter, up from 6.47 trillion won a year earlier. Operating income surged to 1.45 trillion won from 373 billion won.
■TECHNOLOGY
Infosys posts lower profit
Infosys Technologies, India’s second-biggest outsourcing company, said yesterday net profit slipped in the January-March period because of a strengthening rupee. Consolidated net profit in the fiscal fourth quarter fell 0.9 percent year-on-year to 16 billion rupees (US$359 million), just below market forecasts of 16.05 billion rupees, the firm said. The profit fall came despite a 13 percent rise in revenue to 59.44 billion rupees in the fourth quarter of the financial year ending March 31, it said.
■AVIATION
CEA confirms alliance talks
China Eastern Airlines (CEA, 中國東方航空) said yesterday it was in with all three global airline alliances after a French newspaper reported that the carrier was set to join the SkyTeam Alliance. An agreement on the move was expected to be signed at the end of the week, the French financial newspaper La Tribune reported yesterday. “The matter is now in full swing ... We are in talks with all the three alliances. The three all offered us favorable policies if we join them,” said Luo Zhuping (羅祝平), a spokesman for the nation’s third-largest carrier.
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