■AUTOMAKERS
Couple accused of spying
A former General Motors (GM) engineer and her husband conspired to steal trade secrets about hybrid technology and use the information to make private deals with Chinese competitors, according to a US federal indictment unsealed on Thursday. Shanshan Du and Yu Qin, both of Troy, Michigan, were indicted on conspiracy, fraud and other charges. They had been under scrutiny for years and were charged in 2006 with destroying documents sought by investigators, a case that was dropped while a broader probe was pursued. The indictment says Du, who was hired at GM in 2000, purposely sought a transfer in 2003 to get access to hybrid technology and began copying documents by the end of that year.
■TELECOMS
Nokia Q2 profit drops 40%
Nokia Corp said on Thursday that second-quarter net profit fell 40 percent to 227 million euros (US$290 million) as the world’s largest mobile phone maker lost market share and sales remained flat. Analysts, however, said its sales of smartphones were better than expected. The profit was down from a net profit of 380 million euros in the same period last year, the company said. Revenue grew a mere 1 percent in the period to 10 billion euros from 9.9 billion euros a year earlier. Nokia’s overall market share fell to 33 percent in the quarter, down from 35 percent a year earlier. But it said market share in the smartphone sector remained at 41 percent — unchanged from the previous year and the first quarter of this year.
■MEMORY
SanDisk CEO to retire
The CEO of flash memory card maker SanDisk Corp plans to retire this year, the company said on Thursday as it reported a surge in quarterly earnings. SanDisk said Eli Harari, who founded the company and serves as chairman and CEO, will step down on Dec. 31. Chief operating officer Sanjay Mehrotra will become CEO and board member Michael Marks, president of private equity firm Riverwood Capital LLC, will take over as chairman. The Milpitas, California, company earned US$257.9 million, or US$1.08 per share, nearly five times the US$52.5 million, or US$0.23 per share, it earned a year ago. Revenue climbed 61 percent to US$1.18 billion as demand recovered from the recession.
■CREDIT CARDS
AmEx triples Q2 profit
American Express Co tripled its second-quarter profit as more spending by its card members helped vault its business back to pre-recession levels. The New York-based credit card company on Thursday registered its third consecutive quarterly gain since snapping a streak of eight straight quarters of falling profits dating to the start of the recession in late 2007. American Express earned US$1.02 billion in the April-through-June quarter, or US$0.84 per share, up from US$337 million, or US$0.09 per share, a year earlier.
■MACROECONOMY
Trichet urges spending cuts
European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday pressed industrialized countries to cut spending and reform their economies. “Now is the time to restore fiscal sustainability,” the ECB chief wrote in commentary published by the Financial Times. Officials including US President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have called for prolonging economic stimulus until a recovery is firmly established, and some economists also say fiscal tightening will choke off growth. “I disagree with both these views,” Trichet wrote.
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