■STOCKS
Kuwait Telecom goes public
Kuwait yesterday launched an initial public offering (IPO) for the emirate’s third mobile phone company, which is expected to start operating later this year, officials said. Under the IPO, open until Sept. 18, half of Kuwait Telecom Company’s capital of 500 million shares will be available to Kuwaiti citizens only for a nominal price of 100 fils (US$0.37) plus a 5 fils premium per share. Salman al-Badran, head of the new mobile phone project, said in a statement the IPO would raise 26.25 million dinars (US$98.3 million). In November, Saudi Telecom, the largest Arab telecommunications firm, won a 26 percent stake in Kuwait Telecom Company after bidding 248.7 million dinars to become the main operator. The government will hold the remaining 24 percent.
■POLICY
Seoul, Beijing to cooperate
South Korea’s Finance Minister Kang Man Soo and his Chinese counterpart Zhang Ping (張平) agreed to cooperate on policies to counter a global slowdown. Kang, in an annual meeting with the head of China’s National Development and Reform Commission in Seoul yesterday, “shared opinions for the needs for policy cooperation to effectively counter global economic concerns,” the South Korean finance ministry said in a statement. The release was distributed to reporters on Friday in Gwacheon. “The two ministers agreed to closely cooperate and exchange information on the economy,” the ministry said. “They will strengthen cooperation in the environment sector and exchange views on the aging population.” China surpassed the US in 2003 to become South Korea’s largest export market, lifting its share last year to 22 percent from 18 percent in 2003.
■BANKING
NBK opens Dubai branch
The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the Gulf emirate’s largest bank, announced yesterday the opening of its first branch in the booming emirate of Dubai. NBK Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Dabdoub said the new branch, the first in the United Arab Emirates, is part of the bank’s successful expansion strategy in the region. The bank now has more than 50 branches in 13 foreign countries including the US, Britain and France. In recent years it has acquired banks in Iraq, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. Founded by Kuwait’s leading merchant families in 1952 as the Gulf state’s first commercial bank, NBK maintains the highest financial strength rating among Arab banks and emerging market banks from international rating agencies.
■INTERNET
BSI warns of security hole
The German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) in Bonn is warning about a new and especially tricky security hole affecting Internet users. The hole is related to the Domain Name System (DNS) and hence potentially affects all Web users. The DNS translates the names typed by the user into a numeric-based IP address. It’s has been no secret for some time that hackers can manipulate DNS servers to redirect users to different sites without the users’ knowledge. “But now there are malicious programs that actually exploit this hole in the DNS,” says BSI’s Matthias Gaertner. “And unfortunately, not all providers have patched the hole on their DNS servers.” Internet users may not be able to control whether their provider has updated their DNS servers, but they can at least check to see whether they are at risk. The site DNS-OARC (www.dns-oarc.net/oarc/services/dnsentropy) tests whether the user’s provider has dealt with the issue.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique