■ Entertainment
Microsoft, MTV launch URGE
Microsoft joined with music television giant MTV on Wednesday in launching an online music service aimed at challenging Apple Computer's market-leading iTunes store. The beta, or test, version of the service launched in the US, dubbed "URGE," offers downloads from a catalog of two million songs for US$0.99, the same price as iTunes. It also will feature 130 CD-quality radio stations in a variety of musical genres and 500 "playlists" for subscribers of a service paying about US$10 a month or US$99 a year, similar to the services of Napster and RealNetworks. URGE is offering a 14-day free trial for the service. International versions of the URGE store will depend on the success of the US launch, which will be updated later this year, company officials said.
■ Food
BK shares priced at US$17
Burger King's parent company priced its initial public offering at US$17 per share on Wednesday, a day before the No. 2 hamburger chain's stock is set to trade for the first time. Burger King Holdings Inc said the company plans to offer 25 million shares, and its expected stock price was at the high end of the US$15 to US$17 range it had estimated earlier this month. The company expects to receive approximately US$393 million from the offering, though it intends to use the proceeds for repayment of US$350 million of outstanding debt, Burger King said in a news release. The sale would represent about 19 percent of the company's overall shares, and a sale at US$17 a share would value the entire company at about US$2.25 billion. The biggest burger chain, McDonald's Corp, has a market value of about US$43.2 billion by comparison.
■ Real estate
China worried about prices
China will adjust lending and other policies to cope with surging real estate prices, the government says, reacting to a potentially destabilizing scarcity of affordable housing and rising financial risks from property speculation. China's top leaders met on Wednesday and ordered stricter enforcement of curbs on lending and tax policies aimed at discouraging property speculation, state media reported yesterday. The report did not give details of how policies would be changed. Property prices in 70 major cities rose an average of 5.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to government statistics.
■ Aviation
Tiger celebrates for pennies
Low-cost Tiger Airways is offering one-way promotional fares to Bangkok and Phuket for S$0.88 (US$0.55), the carrier said yesterday. The promotion, running from today to Monday, is for travel from July 1 to Oct. 28 this year, said the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger in a statement. The fare, excluding taxes, is valid for travel from Singapore to Bangkok or Phuket as well as from both Thai destinations to the city-state. Tiger flies to five cities in Thailand. The fare marks the selection of Tiger as the only low-cost carrier to win an award from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore earlier this month. It was selected among the top 10 airlines operating at Changi Airport. Tiger serves 16 cities in six countries -- Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia -- as well as Macau.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source