■ Banking
Counter-bid for Abbey
British bank HBOS is considering a surprise counter-bid for Abbey National, which last week accepted a takeover from Spain's Santander Central Hispano, a report said yesterday. HBOS is pondering an offer slightly over the ?8.9 billion (13.5 billion euros, US$16.4 billion) that Abbey agreed with the Spanish group, the Sunday Telegraph reported. An unnamed banker told the paper that HBOS had a dedicated team looking into whether or not to bid for Abbey, like HBOS a home loan specialist. "There's a good chance it will happen, but it's not definite," the banker told the paper. Another source, identified as an executive "with a close knowledge of HBOS," said Abbey National shareholders had sent a clear message that they wanted to see the counter-bid happen.
■ Trade
S. Korea's surplus hits high
South Korea's trade surplus hit an all-time monthly high of US$2.98 billion last month on the back of robust exports of autos and other key items, official data showed yesterday. It was the 16th straight month of surpluses, and the accu-mulated seven-month surplus soared to US$18.25 billion, the commerce, industry and energy ministry said in a preliminary report based on customs-cleared trade. Exports jumped 38.4 percent year-on-year to US$21.35 billion last month, while imports rose 23.3 percent to US$18.37 billion, it said. During the first half of the year, exports rose 38.4 percent from a year ago to US$144.65 billion and imports were up 25.4 percent at US$126.39 billion. "We expect slower growth of exports in the third quarter," trade ministry official Lee Key-hyung told reporters.
■ Telecom
NTT DoCoMo's profit sags
NTT DoCoMo Inc, the world's second-largest mobile-phone operator, said first-quarter profit fell 13 percent as it spent more to lure high-speed phone users. Net income fell to ?170.4 billion (US$1.52 billion), or ?3,507.28 a share, in the three months ended June 30, from ?196.8 billion, or 3,922.97 yen, a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said. Sales fell 2.5 percent to ?22 trillion yen. Company president Masao Nakamura is subsidizing handsets, offering flat-rate fees and increasing discounts to win back market share from KDDI Corp. The company spends ?10,000 more in commissions to retailers to attract users to its high-speed FOMA service than it does to win subscribers for older services.
■ Censorship
China fights Internet porn
China plans a multi-faceted approach to its fight against Internet porn, employing both high technology and sex education to stop young people from visiting lewd Web sites, state media said yesterday. The government has kicked off a massive campaign to weed out pornography from the country's rapidly growing Internet, but experts warn technology must be used to ensure a lasting effect, the Xinhua news agency reported. "Existing and developing technology should be sufficient to ensure the Chinese government's triumph in its campaign," an unnamed researcher with the state lab on national information security told Xinhua. Officials and experts, however, are also aware that half the country's Internet population of 87 million are people under the age of 24, and that many simply visit porn sites to learn about sex.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2