■AVIATION
BA expects to break even
British Airways (BA) still expects to break even in the full year, despite reporting wider first quarter losses due to the impact of volcanic ash and strike-related disruption, sending its shares higher. The British carrier’s pre-tax loss grew 10.8 percent to £164 million (US$256.4 million) for the three months to the end of last month, while revenues fell 2.3 percent to £1.93 billion pounds. EADS, the parent company of plane-maker Airbus, yesterday raised its outlook for this year, despite a 61 percent drop in second quarter earnings. The company said net profit in the quarter fell to 82 million euros (US$107 million) from 208 million euros. Revenue fell 3 percent in the period to 11.36 billion euros.
■AUTOMOBILES
Honda’s profit skyrockets
Honda’s quarterly profit ballooned to ¥272.4 billion (US$3.2 billion) and the carmaker raised its full year earnings forecast as sales grew in North America, Japan and the rest of Asia. The company said yesterday its profit for April-to-last month increased 36-fold from ¥7.5 billion a year earlier, while quarterly revenue jumped 17.9 percent to ¥2.361 trillion for the fifth straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Separately, Renault SA, Europe’s No. 3 car maker, says it returned to profit in the second quarter. The company reported net profit of 823 million euros for the three months to last month, compared with a loss of 2.7 billion euros a year earlier.
■OIL
Total’s profit jumps 72%
French oil giant Total said yesterday its second quarter net profit jumped 72 percent to 2.96 billion euros, benefiting from higher oil prices. Sales were US$41.3 billion dollars, a rise of 31 percent, the company said. The figures were higher than expected by financial analysts polled by Dow Jones newswires who predicted a net profit of 2.67 billion euros, an increase of 55 percent.
■TELECOMS
Motorola profit soars
Motorola posted a six-fold increase in quarterly net profit on Thursday and an optimistic outlook for its mobile phone division ahead of its separation next year. Motorola reported a second-quarter net profit of US$162 million, or US$0.09 per share, compared with US$26 million, or US$0.01 per share, a year ago. Revenue declined to US$5.41 billion from US$5.49 billion a year ago but was better than the US$5.19 billion forecast by analysts. Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent SA says its net loss in the second quarter was a wider-than-expected 184 million euros but said it remains on track for a targeted improvement in profitability this year. The French-US telecommunications equipment supplier said yesterday that it still aims to achieve adjusted operating margin between 1 percent and 5 percent this year, after reporting a 0.7 percent margin in the second quarter.
■CINEMA
Disney sells Miramax
Walt Disney Co agreed to sell its Miramax film division to investors including construction executive Ronald Tutor and private equity firm Colony Capital LLC for more than US$660 million, ending a six-month search to find a buyer for the art-house moviemaker. The sale to Filmyard Holding LLC, backed by partners including Tutor and Colony Capital, is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Disney said yesterday in a statement. The company began winding down Miramax, founded by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, in October last year.
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