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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
UFJ bankers sentenced
Three former executives of a major Japanese bank received suspended sentences yesterday in a scandal centered around hiding information about mounting bad debts from government inspectors. Former UFJ Bank Vice President Kazuyoshi Okazaki was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years, and two other former executives, Sen Hayakawa and Masayuki Inaba, were each sentenced to eight months, suspended for three years, by the Tokyo District Court, a court official said on customary condition of anonymity. UFJ Bank also was ordered to pay ?90 million (US$854,000) as a penalty, the court said. Authorities say the executives lied, hid documents about corporate borrowers and transferred thousands of electronic files between August and October 2003 to try to obstruct an inspection by financial regulators into the bank's debts.

■ Economy
Arroyo urges higher taxes
President Gloria Arroyo told the Philippines on Thursday to "bite the bullet" of higher electricity tariffs and potentially higher taxes saying they were preferable to the "nightmare" of an economic meltdown. Regulators on Friday authorized the debt-stricken state utility National Power Corp (Napocor) to raise its basic rates by an average 5.56 centavos per kilowatt-hour, on top of a 98-centavo raise granted in September. The utility said the rate increase of 1.04 pesos (US$0.19), which was still less than the 1.87-pesos adjustment it sought, would reflect on monthly billings from the middle of this year. "We have to bite the bullet to gain a better economic footing through the VAT bill and the Napocor rate hike," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement. "Our worst nightmare would come from failure to act to protect the public interest in the long run. If we lose market confidence, we will lose the strength to [attract] investment which will create the jobs and livelihood opportunities."

■ Internet
Google changes ads
Hoping to boost its already rapidly rising profits, online search engine leader Google Inc is offering to place ads on specific Web sites instead of distributing them throughout its marketing network. The Mountain View, California-based company is hoping the approach, announced yesterday on a test basis, appeals to advertisers who are particular about where their brand appears or are aiming for a certain demographic. Google makes most of its money by placing text-based advertising links on its own home page and thousands of other Web sites in its marketing network. Last year, Google also started distributing banner ads to other sites. Until now, the participating advertisers had no control over where their commercial links or banner ads appeared.

■ Internet
Carrier gives up `WiBro'
South Korea's second-largest Internet broadband carrier, Hanarotelecom, said yesterday it would give up its license for new wireless Internet services. Hanarote-lecom, SK Telecom and KT Corp were allowed to provide services of the new technology, dubbed "WiBro," from next year that would allow broadband Internet access through mobile phones and other portable devices. However, Hanarotelecom, now controlled by US investors, said its board agreed to give up the WiBro service and focus instead on its broadband Internet business.

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