IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Oz deficit leaps

Australia's trade deficit ballooned 41 percent in January as strong domestic demand sucked in imports while bad weather and supply bottlenecks crimped export growth.

The deficit on goods and services widened to A$2.72 billion ($2.5 billion) in January, the second highest on record. Imports jumped 5.4 percent, partly due to a 16 percent rise in the country's fuel bill, while exports rose 1.7 percent.

Decision day

The Japanese government will put forward its candidate for the next Bank of Japan governor today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

Toshihiko Fukui is set to retire as governor in less than two weeks, and the government and opposition parties have yet to agree his replacement.

'Disappointing' response

United Technologies Corp believes Diebold Inc shareholders would be "disappointed" by their company's rebuff of a $2.64 billion takeover bid by the US manufacturer, a top United Tech executive said.

Louis Chenevert, president and chief operating officer of United Tech, made the remarks in response to an open letter from the chairman of Diebold rejecting the bid for the No 2 maker of automated teller machines as too low.

Deadline extended

Yahoo Inc extended a deadline to nominate board directors, buying the company time to pursue alternatives to Microsoft Corp's $41.7 billion offer, while also giving Yahoo room to negotiate a friendly deal with Microsoft.

The original March 14 deadline could have catapulted Microsoft and Yahoo into a formal proxy contest next week. Instead, Yahoo said the deadline would fall 10 days after it announces the date for its annual shareholder meeting.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/07/2008 page16)