■IRELAND
Government helps bank
Struggling lender Bank of Ireland said yesterday it intends to raise 3.4 billion euros (US$4.6 billion) in fresh capital with the help of the government. The government’s 34 percent stake in the bailed-out bank will rise to 36 percent after the exercise, which will also see a private placement worth 500 million euros to institutional investors. The state will contribute 1.04 billion euros and existing shareholders another 1.89 billion euros, the Bank of Ireland said. The plan to raise extra funds was announced last month, aiming to strengthen the bank after its near-collapse during the global financial crisis.
■ELECTRONICS
Canon Q1 profit soars
Canon’s first quarter net profit more than tripled from a year earlier as a recovering global economy drove demand for cameras and office equipment. The Tokyo-based company said yesterday its net profit for the January-March quarter totaled ¥56.8 billion (US$602 million), up from ¥17.7 billion a year earlier. Operating profit more than quadrupled to ¥86.8 billion, while sales rose 10 percent to ¥755.5 billion. Canon credited its results to a turnaround in US and Japanese consumer spending, as well as expanding markets in China, India and elsewhere in Asia.
■ELECTRONICS
TomTom makes small profit
TomTom NV reported a small profit for the first quarter as more drivers bought its personal navigation devices, but selling prices continued to fall. Net profit was 3 million euros, or 0.01 euro per share, in what is usually its weakest quarter, from a loss of 37 million euros in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 26 percent to 268 million euros. The company has forecast sales for this year at about the same level as last year, at 1.48 billion euros. It says it expects earnings per share of 0.47 euros. TomTom said it sold 1.6 million devices, up 15 percent from a year ago. Its average selling price was 89 euros, down 10 percent from a year ago.
■JAPAN
Fiscal problems growing
A senior IMF official warned of the country’s growing fiscal problems in an interview published yesterday, describing the pace of deterioration as “pretty high.” IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara made the comments in an interview with Kyodo news agency in Washington. “Although Japan’s problem should not be treated in the same way as the Greece debt crisis, its fiscal vulnerability is rising fairly high,” he said. While the fiscal deficit has been financed by high levels of saving, the pace of deterioration is now “pretty high” and the country must implement consolidation plans, he said.
■OIL
Minister defends prices
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah said yesterday that current oil prices of between US$75 and US$85 dollars a barrel did not hamper the global economic recovery. “This price will not create hurdles for the world economic recovery,” the minister told the opening session of the 18th Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference. Oil prices extended gains in Asian trade yesterday after a rise in US home sales stoked optimism for a firmer rebound in the world’s biggest economy, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose US$0.41 to US$85.53 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June was up US$0.35 to US$87.60.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2