Tomorrow's Newspapers Online. 09-26-2013 | S

Years of isolated growth means China's sophisticated social media companies, including Tencent Holdings, Sina Inc and Renren Inc, won't be too worried if Facebook and Twitter prise open the door to China's 591 million Internet users, the world's biggest online population.

Access to Facebook and Twitter has been blocked in China since 2009, but will be lifted by the government in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) which is due to launch this weekend, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday - a move that has been popularly dubbed the "Internet Concession".

But it may be too late for them to repeat their success elsewhere in one of the world's most promising, yet most restricted, Internet markets - where online advertising revenues soared almost 47 percent last year to $12.3 billion.

"The Chinese social media landscape is among the most developed, sophisticated landscapes out there," said Sam Flemming, chief executive of China-based social media intelligence firm CIC. "These aren't just niche social networks, these are a major part of the Internet in China."

CHINA'S WATER-COOLER

Tencent's popular messaging app WeChat has 236 million active users, more than half of all China's smartphone users, and micro-blogging service Sina Weibo had more than 500 million registered accounts last year.

Tencent, whose market value topped $100 billion this month, stole the march on rivals with its WeChat social messaging app that lets users talk privately and in groups, play games, update friends on recent events, send voice messages and make online payments. Facebook, valued at $118 billion, said in its IPO prospectus last year that its China market share was almost zero, and recent studies say Twitter has no more than 50,000 active users in China. Access to both is limited to people with Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that can bypass China's Great Firewall - the colloquial term for Beijing's Internet blocking mechanism.

"Weibo has similar features to Twitter, but its role in China for the dissemination of news, information and entertainment, that's what's critical," said CIC's Flemming.

The new devices will have plastic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, the company said at a Galaxy Note 3 launch event in Seoul.

"We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October," said DJ Lee, Samsung's head of strategic marketing for mobile.

But he revealed no further details.

Digital display technology is progressing towards curved, bendy and foldable screens.

In January, Samsung exhibited prototype products with bendy and extendable screens, but doubts remain as to how such technology can be mass-produced cheaply and reliably.

"A curved screen isn't going to radically change the user's experience of a smartphone, but it does help Samsung differentiate itself in a crowded market where most phones are homogenous, flat-screen rectangles," Ben Wood, analyst at research company CCS Insight, told the BBC.

"My understanding is that these new phones will form part of Samsung's Active range, so the curved screen is probably to do with making the phone more flexible and rugged," he added.

Curved displays already feature in large-screen TVs, such as those produced by Samsung and its Korean rival, LG Electronics.

On Wednesday, LG launched a 55in (140cm) curved OLED TV in the UK.

Samsung has also been moving into wearable technology, such as its Galaxy Gear wristwatch phone.

The multi-part 860 million euro ($1.2 billion) cash and shares deal secured on Tuesday will allow Telefonica to raise its stake in Telco, the holding company controlling about 22 percent of Telecom Italia, allowing Telco's other investors, Intesa Sanpaolo, Generali and Mediobanca to eventually bow out.

Telefonica, which has debt of nearly 50 billion euros ($67.5 billion), is keen to have influence over what happens to Telecom Italia and its prized Brazilian mobile unit Tim Participacoes but at minimal cost.

The deal has yet to receive the approval of Brazilian regulators, who could force Telecom Italia to sell TIM Participacoes if Telefonica acquires full ownership of Telco, a source at Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel told Reuters.

In a statement issued in Brazil, Telefonica said an initial capital increase involved only preferential shares and not voting rights, and thus control over Telco was unchanged in accordance with rules set by Anatel. Other possible capital increases would not take place without regulatory approval.

Despite a debt burden of nearly 29 billion euros ($39.1 billion) and sinking margins at home, Telecom Italia has been seen as a potential takeover target. It has attracted interest from Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, while U.S. telecoms group AT&T has also had contacts with the firm, people close to the matter have said.

The agreement ends months of speculation over the future of Telecom Italia which is seeking capital to cut its debt, but is likely to face scrutiny over a prospective break-up of Italy's biggest telecoms group as well as possible lay-offs.

Junior economy minister Antonio Catricala ruled out on Monday a government intervention to keep the former state monopoly under national control but expressed his support for a plan to sell the company's fixed-line network, Italy's most sensitive telecoms infrastructure, to a state-backed fund.

The government's decision not to intervene could have implications for other large Italian groups, such as Alitalia which is being stalked by Air France-KLM, potentially adding to the list of large Italian groups which have been acquired by foreign shareholders.

A five-part Reuters investigation published this month found parents used message boards and forums on Yahoo and Facebook to send their unwanted children to virtual strangers with little or no government scrutiny, sometimes illegally.

"As to the report that refers to American families who are using the Internet to relocate children they have adopted and aren't willing to continue raising, we are very shocked and furious," the state-backed China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption said in a faxed statement to Reuters late on Tuesday. The center was responding to a query from Reuters.

"This is an irresponsible act."

The Chinese adoption center, commissioned by the government to govern overseas adoptions, said it "attaches great importance" to the Reuters report.

"As for the cases involving the adopted children from China, we are actively investigating and verifying and are awaiting a further understanding of the situation," the center said.

The adoption agency said it is concerned about the lack of U.S. government regulation that was revealed in the series and will arrange to hold discussions with "relevant agencies" in the United States.

The adoption agency said it requires families who have adopted Chinese children to provide feedback six times in the first five years of adoption. It now plans to demand feedback until the child turns 18.

U.S.-based Applied Materials, the world's largest maker of chipmaking equipment, and third-ranked Tokyo Electron announced the all-stock deal late on Tuesday. On completion, it would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese manufacturer. While board representation is to be split evenly, Applied Materials shareholders will own 68 percent of the new company, keeping them firmly in control.

Analysts were surprised by the move in part because Tokyo Electron has a solid balance sheet and didn't need a deal to survive. That makes the deal stand out against other big inbound transactions, many of which involved a struggling target - such as Citigroup Inc's $16 billion acquisition of broker Nikko Cordial in 2007-08 and Renault SA's $5 billion injection into Nissan Motor Co almost a decade earlier.

Edward Johnson, a partner at law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said the willingness of a blue-chip Japanese company like Tokyo Electron to cede control to a foreign rival could encourage other Japanese firms to consider similar moves.

"I don't think it's a one-off. I think it has broader implications," said Johnson, whose practice includes advising foreign companies on investments in Japan.

While Japanese companies spent a record $83 billion on overseas acquisitions in 2012, inbound deals totaled just $15 billion.

HOLDING OFF

Many international companies have refrained from making major investments in Japan due to a general perception the country is not open to foreign capital and a belief they would have trouble cutting costs.

In a development last year that seemed to confirm those concerns, a state-backed fund emerged to lead a bailout of struggling chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp, beating off a rival bid by U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made inviting foreign investment one of the components of his strategy to revive the world's third-largest economy, and investment bankers hope the Tokyo Electron deal will provide a spark.

An executive at a European investment bank said his firm was helping foreign clients scout possible targets among Japanese electronics and auto parts makers, although the size of those transactions would be much smaller than the Tokyo Electron deal.

Ken Siegel, managing partner at law firm Morrison & Foerster in Tokyo, said private equity funds continue to seek opportunities in Japan, but it could take time before corporate buyers follow Applied Materials' lead.

The figure, based on data for approved insurance plans in 48 states, is the broadest national estimate for the cost of coverage when President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law takes full effect next year. The prices of the new plans are at the heart of a political debate over whether they will be affordable enough to attract millions of uninsured Americans when enrollment begins on October 1.

Obama, who is facing a Republican threat to eliminate funding for the law or shut down the federal government next week, said the fierce opposition stems from the fear that Americans will embrace the program.

"Essentially they're saying people will like this thing too much, and then it will be really hard to roll back," Obama said on Tuesday in a conversation about healthcare with former President Bill Clinton. "What we're saying is, just look for yourself. Take a look at it, and you will discover that this is a good deal for you."

The Obama administration is counting on signing up 7 million Americans, including 2.7 million younger and healthier consumers who are needed to offset the costs of sicker members, in the first full year of reform through the state exchanges.

A major factor in determining the price was the level of competition among insurance companies, with rates significantly higher in states with fewer players, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in its report.

The new health plans are organized in five tiers with different monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs: catastrophic coverage, bronze, silver, gold and, in some areas, platinum.

The national average cited by HHS refers to the second-cheapest among silver plans on the market - which many healthcare economists expect to be the most popular for their balance of coverage and out-of-pocket costs. On average, the least expensive plans in this group were reported in Minnesota, where it costs $192 per month, and Tennessee, $245.

He said few Roma could ever integrate into French society and "the majority" should be sent "back to the borders".

He has been criticised by human rights campaigners, the European Commission and one of his cabinet colleagues.

Amnesty International is calling for a ban on forced evictions of Roma people in France in a report out on Wednesday.

It says more than 10,000 were evicted from temporary camps in the first of half of the year.

It has said Mr Valls' remarks were likely to "perpetuate stereotypes and encourage animosity" among the approximately 20,000 Roma who have settled in France, mainly from Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia.

"A theory that such and such a person or such and such a people will never, ever be able to integrate just doesn't stand up," said Mr Valls' cabinet colleague, Arnaud Montebourg, according to Agence France-Presse news agency.

"That's what they said about the Italians, that's what they said about the Spanish, it's what they said about the Portuguese, and what they said about the Arabs.

"Decreeing in advance that it is impossible seems to me excessive and is worthy of being corrected."

Mr Valls was also criticised by the UN human rights body, the European Commission, other rights groups including Roma organisations - some of whom are pledging to take Mr Valls to court for incitement to racial hatred.

'Nothing to correct'

But Mr Valls - a dapper 51-year-old who polls suggest is a rising star in Francois Hollande's Socialist administration - said he saw no reason to correct comments that Roma lifestyles were "clearly in confrontation" with French ways of life.

"I've got nothing to correct," he said. "My remarks only shock those who don't know the subject.

"The majority [of Roma] should be delivered back to the borders. We are not here to welcome these people.

"I'd remind you of [former Socialist premier] Michel Rocard's statement: 'It's not France's job to deal with the misery of the whole world.'"

The treatment of Roma people - who face widespread discrimination in Europe - is a political hot potato in France.

Mr Valls has encouraged local councils to systematically dismantle illegal Roma slums, and offer the expelled residents free flights back to their countries of origin.

He has also been at the forefront of French opposition to allowing Bulgaria and Romania full access to the passport-free Schengen zone.

A report earlier on Tuesday by The Street said Twitter had already chosen the NYSE, but sources close to the exchanges told Reuters that Twitter has not made its decision yet.

Big Board parent NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group and Twitter had no comment.

The competition for what is the most coveted technology listing since Facebook Inc, which chose Nasdaq for its market debut in May last year, is fierce, one of the sources said.

Technical glitches and questionable decisions at Nasdaq during the Facebook market debut led to losses by market makers and Nasdaq paid $10 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges related to the errors. It also voluntarily set up a $62 million fund to compensate firms harmed by the problems. The issues during the Facebook IPO have played into Twitter's thinking, according to The Street.

Twitter, which is expected to be valued at up to $15 billion, filed with regulators on September 12 to go public, but did so confidentially under a process available to emerging growth companies and did not give a timeline.

Traditionally, Nasdaq had a lock on technology company listings, and NYSE on blue-chip stocks, but both have made inroads into each others' respective territories in recent years.

During the lead-up to Facebook's IPO, the chief executives from both Nasdaq and NYSE were reported to have flown to California to woo the management of the social network.

Jobs moved to the house with his foster parents as a 7th grader, and lived there through high school. In the attached garage, he and Steve Wozniak toiled to assemble the first 50 Apple 1 computers. The pair sold them to Paul Terrell's Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each. How Steve Jobs' legacy has changed

Nine months later, in 1977, Apple Computer Co. was formally established and moved its operations to nearby Cupertino. One of the original computers later sold at an auction for $231,000. And Jobs went on to become a visionary who changed the face of computing.

"Steve Jobs is considered a genius who blended technology and creativity to invent and market a product which dramatically changed six industries -- personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing," according to the property evaluation.

It remained unclear after Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation on television whether the four-day security operation at the upmarket Westgate centre was completely over, or whether any militants were still at large or hostages unaccounted for.

"We have ashamed and defeated our attackers," Kenyatta said, adding that bodies were still trapped under rubble following the collapse of part of the building late in the operation. A fire began on Monday which officials said was started by the gunmen.

Sixty-one civilians and six security personnel had been confirmed killed in the four days of bloodshed, Kenyatta said. Five of the attackers were shot dead and 11 suspects were in custody: "Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed," he said.

The president added that he could not confirm intelligence reports that a British woman and two or three Americans might be involved. Forensic scientists were involved in trying to identify the nationalities of the "terrorists", he said.

"Towards the tail end of the operation, three floors of the Westgate mall collapsed and there are several bodies trapped in the rubble including the terrorists," he added. The death toll had previously been put by officials at 62.

"These cowards will meet justice as will their accomplices and patrons, wherever they are," said the president, who thanked other leaders for support and used his address to both praise the response of the Kenyan people and call for national unity, six months after his election was marked by ethnic tensions.

DEMANDS

Kenyatta had rejected the militants' demands that he pull Kenyan troops out of its northern neighbor. As part of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia, Kenyan forces have pushed al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab on to the defensive over the past two years.

Kenyan officials have announced the imminent end of the siege for the past three days - something al Shabaab spokesmen have mocked in commentaries and in postings on social media.

Some hours before Kenyatta spoke, the group said its militants were still holding out with hostages and that there were "countless dead bodies" still inside the complex.

"There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the Mujahideen are still holding their ground #Westgate," the group said on its Twitter feed.

"The hostages who were being held by the Mujahideen inside #Westgate are still alive, looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive."