■ TAKEOVERS
Regulator okays Google bid
Australia's competition watchdog said yesterday it had no objection to Google's US$3.1 billion purchase of online advertising firm DoubleClick. In a decision that Google described as a world first among anti-trust regulators, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had no competition concerns about the deal. "In this context, the ACCC considered that the merger was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in an Australian market," the ACCC said in a statement.
■ FINANCE
Chinese firm eyes stakes
Another Chinese agency was in talks about possibly buying stakes in US-based private equity funds following a US$3 billion investment in the Blackstone Group this year, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Social Security Fund, which manages money for China's government pension and welfare programs, has talked to Carlyle, KKR and TPG, the Financial Times said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the talks. It gave no investment amount but said the fund was discussing buying a stake of up to 9.9 percent.
■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita profits drop
Matsushita reported a 17 percent drop in profit for the second fiscal quarter yesterday as expenses for a massive battery recall and early retirement packages offset better sales. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co's July to last month profit dropped to ¥65.81 billion (US$574 million) from ¥79.29 billion the same period last year. Quarterly sales edged up 1 percent to ¥2.286 trillion from ¥2.253 trillion a year earlier on brisk global demand for flat-panel TVs, semiconductors, digital TVs and air conditioners, the manufacturer said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’