■ CREDIT CARD
Visa IPO set for today
Credit card giant Visa is set to launch trading today in the largest share offering in US history. Visa Inc, which touts itself as the world's largest electronic payment and credit card company, joins its rival MasterCard, which went public two years earlier. But Visa is expected to raise as much as US$18.75 billion in the initial public offering on US markets, topping the record IPO of US$10.6 billion by AT&T Wireless in 2000. The IPO is priced between US$37 and US$42 per share. Shares will trade under the ticker "V."
■ TECHNOLOGY
File-sharer stole ID data
A man was sentenced to more than four years in jail in Seattle, Washington, on Monday in what prosecutors said was the first federal case against someone using file-sharing software to steal identities. Gregory Kopiloff pleaded guilty in November to mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and accessing a protected computer without authorization to further fraud. Kopiloff, 35, used programs such as LimeWire to search computers for personal financial documents. His attorney said her client had turned to identity theft to support drug and gambling addictions.
■ AVIATION
Italy approves Alitalia bid
Italy's economics minister approved Air France-KLM's bid for Alitalia on Monday, a day after the struggling airline agreed to be bought by the Franco-Dutch carrier at a lower-than-expected price. Italian Economics Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa will send a letter to Alitalia with a commitment by the Italian Treasury to sell its 49.9 percent stake in the national airline, the government said in a statement following a Cabinet meeting. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi agreed with the decision, the statement said. Air France-KLM is offering one of its shares for every 160 Alitalia shares, which values the airline at 139 million euros (US$216.3 million), far less than expected.
■ INSIDER TRADING
New trial for Qwest ex-CEO
A federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado, ordered a new trial on Monday for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, saying the trial judge wrongly excluded expert testimony and classified information important to Nacchio's defense in his insider trading case. Nacchio was convicted last April on 19 counts involving the sale of US$52 million worth of Qwest stock in 2001. He was sentenced to six years in prison but remained free on appeal. Prosecutors argued Nacchio sold the stock when he knew Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc was at financial risk but didn't tell investors. US Attorney Troy Eid called the case the largest insider trading prosecution in the nation.
■ RETAIL
Wal-Mart to buy all of Seiyu
Wal-Mart Stores will buy the rest of Japanese chain Seiyu as the US retail giant seeks the flexibility it says it needs to turn around the money-losing supermarket operator. Seiyu, Japan's fifth-biggest retailer by sales, said shareholders approved the move at a meeting yesterday. The vote allows Wal-Mart to buy the remaining 4 percent of Seiyu it doesn't already own. Since entering the Japanese market in 2002, Wal-Mart has been gradually raising its stake in Seiyu, which has about 400 stores nationwide. Last month, Seiyu reported a net loss of ¥20.93 billion (US$216 million) for last year.
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