■AVIATION
Lufthansa to buy BMI stake
German airline Lufthansa said yesterday that it will buy a remaining 20 percent stake in British carrier BMI from the Scandinavian SAS group. Lufthansa will pay SAS a total of £38 million (US$60.8 million) for the BMI shares that it does not yet already own, a brief statement said. The deal is to take effect on Nov. 1.
■TELECOMS
Bharti Airtel ends MTN talks
India’s top mobile company Bharti Airtel on Wednesday called off merger talks with South Africa’s MTN Group, blaming South Africa’s political leaders. The South African government “has expressed its inability to accept it [the proposed deal] in the current form” and “in view of this, both companies have taken the decision to disengage from discussion,” Bharti said in a statement. The collapse of the politically sensitive talks marked the second time the two companies had failed to forge an alliance. They called off similar talks in May last year.
■ELECTRONICS
Cisco to buy Tandberg
Cisco Systems Inc, the world’s largest maker of networking equipment, agreed to buy Tandberg ASA for 17.2 billion kroner (US$2.96 billion), to expand its lineup of video-conferencing products. Cisco will pay 153.50 kroner a share in cash, Lysaker, Norway-based Tandberg said yesterday in a statement. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of next year, Cisco said. The company expects the purchase to add to earnings, excluding some items, in fiscal 2011. Tandberg, which has 1,500 employees, reported US$808.8 million in sales last year.
■ENERGY
S Korea drills for Iraq oil
South Korea’s state-owned oil company was to begin drilling for oil yesterday in northern Iraq amid a dispute between the Kurdish regional government and Baghdad over the legality of such resource deals. Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) and other South Korean companies in a consortium it leads will drill for about three months in the Bazian field in the northern Kurdish region, a senior KNOC executive said. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday that the Bazian field could hold up to 1.2 billion barrels, or enough to cover about 18 months of South Korea’s crude imports.
■AUTOMOBILES
Sales rise in Japan
Vehicle sales in Japan rose year-on-year for a second straight month last month, driven by government incentives for low emission cars aimed at boosting the flagging industry, data showed yesterday. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said 321,737 new cars, trucks and buses were sold in the country last month, compared to 198,265 units in August when sales showed the first year-on-year increase in 13 months. The figure marked a modest 3.5 percent increase compared to the same month last year.
■COMPUTING
Vtion makes IPO in Germany
Vtion Wireless Technology yesterday made the first initial public offer (IPO) this year of shares in a Chinese company on the Frankfurt stock market, market operator Deutsche Boerse said in a statement. Vtion, which says it is the second-biggest player in the Chinese market for wireless data cards for mobile computing uses, aimed to obtain a listing in the market’s Prime Standard, the highest standard of transparency, a statement to the markets said late last month.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from