■ Telecoms
NTT DoCoMo buys KTF
Japan's NTT DoCoMo will buy a 10 percent stake in South Korea's KT Freetel Ltd worth 564.9 billion won (US$554.5 million) as the two wireless telecommunications providers enter a strategic alliance agreement, KTF said yesterday. The amount represents 20.2 million shares of KTF, including 17.7 million new shares and the rest in treasury stock. NTT DoCoMo will pay 28,000 won for each share, a nearly 16 percent premium over the company's closing price yesterday.
■ Investment
Firm sorry over tax evasion
Lone Star, a US-based investment fund, has apologized for tax delinquency and pledged to pay some US$140 million in back taxes to the South Korean government, news reports said yesterday. Ellis Short, vice chairman in charge of Lone Star's European and Asian operations, made the rare apology during his low-publicity visit to South Korea's National Tax Service on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency said. Lone Star is among the five unspecified foreign investment funds under probe for tax evasion charges, according to the Korean Times newspaper.
■ Finance
Australian bank bids for LSE
Macquarie Bank Ltd, Australia's largest investment bank, yesterday made a £1.48 billion (US$2.6 billion) offer for the London Stock Exchange, matching a previous offer which the exchange rejected as too small. The bid was announced by Macquarie London Exchange Investments Limited, a newly formed English company established for the purpose of acquiring the exchange. The LSE, which has been trying to shrug off constant speculation of a takeover after also drawing interest from Euronext NV and Deutsche Boerse AG, said it had no immediate comment on the approach.
■ Internet
Google spotlights artists
Online search engine leader Google Inc will begin giving some musical artists the star treatment by spotlighting links to their songs, lyrics and other related material at the top of the results page. The music section, which was scheduled to debut yesterday, is designed to provide a more direct route to the content that most music fans want to see when they inquire about a singer or band, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of Internet products. Among other things, Google's music section will provide lists of all the songs recorded on a specific album and also will point to places where the music can be legally downloaded.
■ Entertainment
MTV to challenge Apple
Music media giant MTV Networks is teaming up with Microsoft for a music download service that it hopes will challenge market leader Apple's iTunes, the companies said on Wednesday. The partners said that the service, to be called Urge, will debut early next year. It will be tightly integrated into the next version of Windows Media Player and offer more than 2 million songs for sale individually or as part of a subscription package. The service will also offer music over online radio. Microsoft will build the technology behind Urge, which MTV, a unit of Viacom, will own, operate and promote across its music television networks and sister companies. The service will not be compatible with Apple's iPod, which accounts for 75 percent of the market, the companies said.
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