■ PROPERTY
Accor to sell 57 hotels
Accor SA, Europe's biggest lodging company, agreed to sell 57 hotels in France and Switzerland for 518 million euros (US$744 million) to focus on running properties rather than owning them. The hotels will be sold to a group of investors including Caisse des Depots et Consignations and two funds managed by Axa Real Estate Investment Managers, Paris-based Accor said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The sale of 47 hotels in France and 10 in Switzerland will add 5 million euros to next year's pretax profit and cut the company's debt by about 350 million euros, Accor said.
■ MEDIA
Viacom in Microsoft deal
The media company that owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures said on Wednesday that it would now advertise online through Microsoft Corp as part of a larger deal. The five-year deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, is a victory for Microsoft's online ad-serving platform called Atlas, which it acquired in May -- and a loss for DoubleClick, Viacom Inc's former online ad server, which is being acquired by Microsoft's rival Google Inc. The deal also includes agreements for Microsoft to license video programming for its MSN online network and Xbox 360 gaming console.
■ CLOTHING
Nike exceeds expectations
Nike Inc reported 10 percent growth in its second quarter profits, largely fueled by overseas sales growth for the athletic shoe and clothing company. Nike said second quarter net income grew to US$359.4 million, or US$0.71 per share, up from US$325.6 million, or US$0.64 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The results, reported on Wednesday, exceeded analysts expectations. Revenue grew 14 percent to US$4.3 billion for the quarter ending Nov. 30. Changes in currency accounted for 4 percentage points growth in revenue.
■ INTERNET
Firms settle gambling probe
Microsoft, Yahoo and Google agreed to pay a total of US$31.5 million to settle a government probe into their role in promoting online gambling dating back to 1997, officials said on Wednesday. The settlements marked the latest development in a US crackdown on Internet gambling, which has attracted a large number of Americans using offshore gaming Web sites. The Microsoft settlement totals US$21 million, including US$4.5 million to the US and a US$7.5 million contribution to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Justice Department said in a statement. Microsoft also agreed to provide a US$9 million campaign showing young Web users that online gambling is illegal in the US.
■ FINANCE
Barclays sues Bear Stearns
Barclays Bank PLC on Wednesday accused Bear Stearns Co Inc of using two hedge funds that collapsed last summer as places to unload troubled assets. The London-based bank's allegations appear in a lawsuit filed in the US Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. Barclays described the collapse of two Bear Stearns-run hedge funds as one of the most shocking in the last decade. The bank said it was the sole shareholder to a Bear Stearns enhanced leverage fund with exposure to risky subprime mortgages. That fund and another run by Bear Stearns had more than US$20 billion in assets before their collapse.
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