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HAWAII
Tourism authority to push for money
The board of the Hawaii Tourism Authority formally approved its 2003 legislative agenda yesterday, including a request to boost the agency's administrative expenses to 10 percent of the state's tourism special fund from 3.5 percent.The authority will also seek to restore its funding from the state transient accommodations tax to 37.9 percent of TAT revenues, from 32.6 percent. The restoration will allow the authority to have a higher spending ceiling. The authority's spending is currently capped at $61 million annually.
In addition, the authority is seeking to: be able to hire its own attorney; allow agricultural tourism on land classified as agriculture; authorize general obligation bonds to restore sand at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki; and limit the personal-injury liability of activity and recreation companies.
Mitsui to close isle leasing units
Mitsui Fudosan Co., a Japanese developer, will liquidate three building leasing subsidiaries in Hawaii, Bloomberg News reported.The three subsidiaries are, MFD 700 Bishop Inc., MFD Partners LLC, and Pomai Inc., the company said in a release distributed through the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The liquidation will have little impact on earnings, the company said.
FRANCE
Soros guilty of insider trading
Paris >> Billionaire George Soros, the manager of the world's largest hedge fund, was convicted of insider trading in France and ordered to pay back 2.2 million euros ($2.3 million) in gains.Soros, 72, used confidential information to trade shares of French bank Societe Generale SA during a takeover battle 14 years ago, Judge Anne-Marie Foncelle ruled. Soros won't go to jail and plans to appeal the decision, which he said is "without merit."
The conviction of Soros, who has given about $1 billion to charities in the past two years, is a victory for European regulators seeking to crack down on financial crime. Between 1995 and 2000, there were 15 convictions in Europe for such crimes, less than a third of the insider trading cases the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission successfully pursued last year.
JAPAN
Japan to issue record government debt
TOKYO >> Japan said today it would issue a record amount of government bonds in the next fiscal year despite efforts by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to rein in the biggest pile of public debt in the industrialized world.Depressed tax income and hefty costs to roll over maturing bonds helped to push total issuance to the market for the year starting in April to &YEN112.7 trillion ($934.8 billion), the Ministry of Finance said.
Bond issuance was &YEN109.8 trillion for the current fiscal year, including a supplementary budget.
The issuance plan was in line with private-sector forecasts and, despite its massive scale, was unlikely to cause a disturbance in the market, analysts said.
MAINLAND
Wal-Mart required unpaid overtime
PORTLAND, Ore. >> Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, forced employees to work unpaid overtime between 1994 and 1999, a federal jury found yesterday.The lawsuit in U.S. District Court accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of violating federal and state wage laws. The jury did not rule on monetary damages, which will be decided in a separate trial. More than 400 employees from 24 of Wal-Mart's 27 Oregon stores sued the retailer. It was the first of several such suits across the country to come to trial.
U.S. Technologies CEO charged
NEW YORK >> The chairman and CEO of U.S. Technologies was charged yesterday with securities fraud stemming from a corporate scandal that led to former FBI director William Webster's resignation as head of a special government oversight board. Prosecutors allege C. Gregory Earls misled the public while appropriating at least $13.8 million from USV Partners, a company that was investing in U.S. Technologies.
Bush extends airline code-share review
WASHINGTON >> The Bush administration yesterday extended for 30 days its review of a code-share proposal between Delta Air Lines , Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines , saying the deal has raised competition concerns.The Transportation Department said in a regulatory filing that it had received a number of requests recently to delay a decision on whether to block the plan from taking effect, in order to fully address competition issues.
Code-sharing agreements allow airlines to sell seats on each others flights, reducing costs. Rather than each running a flight half full, two could run a single flight near capacity, for example.
Brokerage earnings beat expectations
NEW YORK >> Weak equity markets and depressed investment banking activity took a toll on fourth-quarter earnings at major brokerage and banking houses. Still, results reported yesterday by Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley beat analysts' estimates, largely because of cost cutting and layoffs.On Wednesday, Bear Stearns Cos. reported a 23 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street expectations. The New York investment bank said it earned $190.5 million, or $1.36 a share, for the three months ended Nov. 30, compared with $154.9 million, or $1.08 a share, a year earlier.
Barnes & Noble warns of poor holiday sales
NEW YORK >> Barnes & Noble Inc., the world's largest bookseller, said yesterday that it expects profits for the fourth quarter and the full year to be lower than expected due to disappointing holiday sales.The company projects that sales at stores open at least a year will be anywhere from unchanged to up 3 percent in the fourth quarter, ending Feb. 1, 2003.
