■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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
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