■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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
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