■ Electronics
Sharp profits take tumble
Profit at Sharp Corp fell 6.9 percent in the six months to Sept. 30 because of the costs of opening new TV plants and soaring prices of raw materials for solar cells, Japan's leading manufacturer of liquid crystal display TVs said yesterday. The Osaka-based company said group net profit fell to ¥43.3 billion (US$263 million) for the period from April to last month, down from ¥46.5 billion a year ago. First half sales totaled ¥1.641 trillion (US$14.4 billion), up 12 percent from the ¥1.466 trillion for the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
■ automobiles
Steering wheel unveiled
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi has developed a steering wheel that enables the driver to use his or her fingers as switches for the engine, car stereo and navigation system. The steering wheel is equipped with a tiny device that reads the driver's finger veins. "If I place my index finger on this reader, it recognizes it's me. If I put the finger again, it starts the engine," Masahide Hayashi of Hitachi's sensor design department explained at the Tokyo Motor Show in Chiba, near the capital. "When the middle finger is on the device, it sends a command to play music I registered in accordance to my taste. The ring finger can start the navigation system," he said.
■ Telecoms
Ericsson earnings drop
Ericsson, the world's leading mobile networks maker, presented sharply lower third quarter earnings yesterday in line with last week's profit warning that shocked the market. Ericsson also announced that its chief financial officer, Karl-Henrik Sundstroem, was leaving the company with immediate effect, amid fierce criticism in the media that management was not on top of the situation. The Swedish group reported a net profit of 4 billion kronor (US$620 million) and an operating profit of 5.6 billion kronor, both down by 36 percent from a year ago. Ericsson, like its competitors such as Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks, are seeing growing competition from Asia, such as China's Huawei (華為), which is pressing margins.
■ Banking
Shinsei slashes forecasts
Japan's Shinsei Bank Ltd yesterday slashed its earnings forecasts for the year because of exposure to the troubled US subprime housing mortgage sector. It is the latest Japanese bank to report effects from the subprime crisis, which has rattled global markets and raised fears of a liquidity squeeze. Shinsei now expects to post net profit of ¥62 billion (US$542 million) in the year to March 31, down by ¥10 billion or nearly 14 percent from the previous projection, a statement said. Shinsei said it was taking the action due to revisions by an affiliate and "prudent provisioning related to our exposure in the US residential mortgage market."
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
SECURITY: President William Lai has announced plans to restore the military court system that was disbanded in 2013 to address a surge in Chinese infiltration efforts Taiwan plans to reinstate military judges to hear Chinese espionage cases and other offenses involving Taiwanese service members, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. There would be a review and legal amendments “to reinstate the military trial system,” he told reporters after a national security meeting. “Military judges will return to the front line,” Lai said. Military judges would work “alongside prosecutorial and judicial agencies to handle criminal cases involving active-duty military personnel accused of treason, aiding the enemy, leaking classified information, dereliction of duty, insubordination and other military offenses,” he said. The number of people prosecuted for spying for Beijing has risen sharply,
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