■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.
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
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