■ AUTOMOBILES
Nissan's profit plummets
Nissan Motor Co, Japan's third-largest automaker, said yesterday its first-half net profit slumped 22.5 percent from a year earlier owing to higher taxes and weak domestic sales. Nissan posted net earnings of ?212.4 billion (US$1.86 billion) for the first six months of the year, down from ?274.2 billion a year earlier. But operating profit rose 5.3 percent to ?367.1 billion as sales climbed 11.7 percent to ?5.06 trillion. Nissan kept its forecast for an annual net profit of ?480 billion, up 4.2 percent from the previous year, when the automaker reported the first drop in annual profits under chief executive Carlos Ghosn.
■ CURRENCIES
Dollar hits new low
The US dollar slumped to a record low against the euro yesterday after weak US economic data heightened expectations of a fresh cut to US interest rates next week, dealers said. Historically high oil prices, which could play a part in slowing the US economy, also kept the dollar under pressure, they added. In early European trade, the euro struck US$1.4374 -- the highest level since the single currency's creation in 1999. It later stood at US$1.437. US government data published on Thursday showed new home sales last month falling 23 percent from a year earlier. On Wednesday, separate data revealed a sharper-than-expected drop in sales of existing homes.
■ EDUCATION
Nova files for protection
The scandal-plagued operator of Japan's largest chain of private foreign language schools has filed for court protection from creditors, a court official said yesterday. Nova Corp filed the request with the Osaka District Court yesterday. Following the court filing, the JASDAQ Securities Exchange for start-ups and venture firms suspended trading in Nova shares for the day and said the firm would be delisted on Nov. 27. The Osaka-based language school chain has debts estimated at ?43.9 billion (US$385 million), Kyodo News agency reported.
■ INTERNET
Baidu's profit doubles in 3Q
Search engine Baidu.com Inc (百度) said yesterday its third-quarter profits more than doubled on strong traffic growth despite search giant Google Inc's efforts to expand in China. Its profits reached 181.7 million yuan (US$24.2 million), up from 85.3 million yuan in the same period a year ago. Earnings per share were 5.23 yuan, up from 2.46 yuan a year earlier. Revenue jumped to 496.5 million yuan from 237.6 million yuan. Baidu had 60.5 percent of China's search-engine market in the third quarter, Beijing-based research firm Analysys International said. Google was in second place with 23.7 percent, while Yahoo's China arm was in third place with 10.4 percent.
■ GAMING
No price cuts for Wii
Fresh off bumper earnings, Nintendo Co yesterday ruled out a price cut for its smash-hit Wii video game console and announced that the company will be selling the Wii in China next year. Profits at Nintendo have surged on the runaway success of the Wii and the portable Nintendo DS machine in North America, Europe and Japan, forcing rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp to slash console prices in a desperate catch-up bid ahead of the holiday season. The Wii sells for US$249.99 in North America, 249 euros (US$355) in Europe and ?25,000 (US$219) in Japan -- all less than Sony's PlayStation 3 or Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
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