■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.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
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