■ Entertainment
Microsoft, MTV launch URGE
Microsoft joined with music television giant MTV on Wednesday in launching an online music service aimed at challenging Apple Computer's market-leading iTunes store. The beta, or test, version of the service launched in the US, dubbed "URGE," offers downloads from a catalog of two million songs for US$0.99, the same price as iTunes. It also will feature 130 CD-quality radio stations in a variety of musical genres and 500 "playlists" for subscribers of a service paying about US$10 a month or US$99 a year, similar to the services of Napster and RealNetworks. URGE is offering a 14-day free trial for the service. International versions of the URGE store will depend on the success of the US launch, which will be updated later this year, company officials said.
■ Food
BK shares priced at US$17
Burger King's parent company priced its initial public offering at US$17 per share on Wednesday, a day before the No. 2 hamburger chain's stock is set to trade for the first time. Burger King Holdings Inc said the company plans to offer 25 million shares, and its expected stock price was at the high end of the US$15 to US$17 range it had estimated earlier this month. The company expects to receive approximately US$393 million from the offering, though it intends to use the proceeds for repayment of US$350 million of outstanding debt, Burger King said in a news release. The sale would represent about 19 percent of the company's overall shares, and a sale at US$17 a share would value the entire company at about US$2.25 billion. The biggest burger chain, McDonald's Corp, has a market value of about US$43.2 billion by comparison.
■ Real estate
China worried about prices
China will adjust lending and other policies to cope with surging real estate prices, the government says, reacting to a potentially destabilizing scarcity of affordable housing and rising financial risks from property speculation. China's top leaders met on Wednesday and ordered stricter enforcement of curbs on lending and tax policies aimed at discouraging property speculation, state media reported yesterday. The report did not give details of how policies would be changed. Property prices in 70 major cities rose an average of 5.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to government statistics.
■ Aviation
Tiger celebrates for pennies
Low-cost Tiger Airways is offering one-way promotional fares to Bangkok and Phuket for S$0.88 (US$0.55), the carrier said yesterday. The promotion, running from today to Monday, is for travel from July 1 to Oct. 28 this year, said the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger in a statement. The fare, excluding taxes, is valid for travel from Singapore to Bangkok or Phuket as well as from both Thai destinations to the city-state. Tiger flies to five cities in Thailand. The fare marks the selection of Tiger as the only low-cost carrier to win an award from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore earlier this month. It was selected among the top 10 airlines operating at Changi Airport. Tiger serves 16 cities in six countries -- Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia -- as well as Macau.
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
DRILLS FOR 10 DAYS: The exercises would continue around the clock under realistic conditions taking into account all possibilities, the defense ministry said Taiwan yesterday launched its largest-ever military drills intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade, including using “gray zone” tactics deployed by China that stop just short of open warfare. This year’s 10-day live-fire Han Kuang exercises are the longest yet and follow the delivery of a range of new weaponry from tanks to uncrewed waterborne drones. The drills began with exercises to counter the actions of China Coast Guard and maritime militia ships that have been harassing Taiwanese vessels around outlying islands close to the Chinese coast, the Ministry of National Defense said. Cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns are seen by Taiwan as
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