■ Economy
Moody's upbeat on Japan
Moody's Investors Service said yesterday that its rating outlook for Japanese com-panies is generally positive on expectations that their credit quality will continue to improve for the time being. "Signs of improving credit quality ... support a favorable rating outlook for the Japanese corporate sector," the credit rating agency said in a report. "The holes that existed in corporate balance sheets have largely been filled through restructurings, debt forgiveness and a highly supportive monetary policy," the agency said, adding that it expects credit quality and credit ratings to con-tinue to improve. Average earnings coverage of in-terest charges has increased four-fold to almost nine times from two times in 1995, according to a Moody's survey of the largest 1,000 companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
■ Internet
S Korean portal buys Lycos
South Korea's top Internet portal, Daum Communica-tions Corp, said yesterday it has acquired the US portal business of Spain's Terra Lycos. Daum said it has acquired all of Lycos' opera-tions for 111.2 billion won (US$95.3 million). The deal will be financed by Daum's cash reserves and bonds, it said. Daum said it aims to become a global leader in the sector by combining Lycos' brand and Daum's business know-how. Daum expects the NASDAQ-listed Internet portal to turn profitable by next year on the back of strong growth in the US advertising market. Lycos has been buffeted by heavy losses since 1999. Daum president Lee Jae-Woong, however, said Lycos, the seventh-most visited Web site in the US, would help his firm secure a foothold in the rapidly growing US Internet market.
■ Financing
GE unit buys stake
GE Consumer Finance, a unit of US giant General Electric, yesterday agreed to purchase a 38 percent stake in Hyundai Capital, the financial services affiliate of South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Group. The accord was part of a strategic alliance between the two companies under which GE Consumer will invest one trillion won (US$857 mil-lion), including 480 won for the 38 percent stake, in Hyundai Capital by 2006, Hyundai Capital said in a statement. GE Consumer was also given an option to buy another 5 percent stake in Hyundai Capital, the statement said. The alliance will help GE Consumer enter South Korea's fast-growing auto loan and consumer financing market and aid Hyundai Capital raise its global profile, Hyundai officials said.
■ Crime
Trial opens in Malaysia
The trial of a former tycoon charged with fraud in Malaysia's biggest-ever financial scandal began yesterday. Eric Chia, the 72-year-old ex-managing director of Perwaja Steel, has pleaded innocent to a charge of criminal breach of trust in connection with the firm's near-collapse in the 1990s. Government lawyers claim Chia -- who was arrested in February but remains free on bail -- illegally approved a 76.4 million ringgit (US$20 million) payment by Per-waja to a bogus Hong Kong company. Chia faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and an unspecified fine. Chia left Perwaja in 1995, and authorities launched a probe in 1996 after an auditor found the company to close to bankruptcy.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
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
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
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
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