■COMPUTERS
Big Blue’s results shine
Technology colossus IBM reported second quarter income of US$2.77 billion on Thursday, up 22 percent on the same quarter last year on strong global growth in sales of services, hardware and software. Revenue rose 13 percent to US$26.8 billion, with 7 percent of that growth stemming from currency gains caused by the record weakness of the US dollar. “IBM had an outstanding quarter and a strong first half for 2008. These results demonstrate that IBM has the ability to thrive in both emerging and established markets,” said Samuel Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.
■OIL
Crude prices inch higher
Oil prices rose US$2 to stand above U$131 a barrel yesterday, after a 10 percent decline in the past three trading sessions lured buyers. Easing tensions between Iran and the West and worries that high prices and a weaker US economy will undermine demand have sent US crude down US$15 in just three days, putting it on track for its biggest weekly fall since the contract started trading in New York in 1983. US light crude rose US$2.12 to US$131.41 a barrel by 8:45am GMT, still way off its June 11 record high of US$147.27, as Wednesday’s report of an unexpected build in US crude oil stocks continued to weigh on the price. London Brent crude gained US$2.18 to US$133.25 a barrel.
■BANKING
UBS overhauls US operation
UBS AG overhauled its offshore private banking business for US residents on Thursday in the face of accusations by congressional investigators that the Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes. In a dramatic hearing on Capitol Hill before a Senate subcommittee, a senior UBS executive apologized and announced the bank would cease offering cross-border private banking through its unregulated units to US-domiciled customers. Mark Branson, chief financial officer for UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking, said the bank’s 80,000 employees were alarmed by reports of misconduct.
■OIL
Sinopec issues warning
Chinese oil giant Sinopec, formally known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, says its first-half profit will fall more than 50 percent from the same period last year because of government controls that limit its ability to pass on record-high crude costs to consumers. A Sinopec statement, dated on Thursday, gave no estimate of first-half earnings. But the company, Asia’s biggest refiner by volume, reported profits of 36.2 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion) in the year-earlier period. “The net profit for the first half of 2008 will decrease by more than 50 percent compared to the same period of last year,” Beijing-based Sinopec said. It blamed China’s “strict control over refined oil prices.”
■ELECTRONICS
Wii on top in the US
Nintendo said on Thursday that its globally popular Wii has become the top-selling video game console in the US, a crown coveted by rivals Microsoft and Sony. Market-tracking firm NPD Group reported that 666,000 Wii consoles were sold in the US last month, raising the total sales count in the country to nearly 10.9 million units. The Japanese video game giant scored another victory with its DS portable devices, selling more than 783,000 in the US last month, to raise total sales there to 20.8 million units.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
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