Techlife News #526

The Italian telecommunications company TIM is assessing a non-binding“indication of interest”by the U.S. investment fund KKR to acquire the entire capital share, a potential 11 billion-euro deal. Any agreement would need the OK of the Italian government. TIM in a statement issued this week says its board of directors met and “acknowledged” the fund’s interest in launching a possible public tender. The due diligence process is expected to take four weeks. Although TIM is a private company quoted on the stock exchange, because it is considered a strategic asset for Italy, the Italian government can exercise its so-called “golden power” option to oppose any acquisition it considers wouldn’t be in the public’s interest. TIM’s statement said its board “acknowledged the intention” of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., to date qualified as “non-binding and…

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, one of the country’s largest newspaper owners with a reputation for intense cost cuts and layoffs, has offered to buy the local newspaper chain Lee Enterprises for about $141 million. In a news release, Alden said it sent Lee’s board a letter with the offer. It already owns 6% of Lee’s stock and is proposing to buy the rest for $24 a share this week. Alden says it does not foresee regulatory issues that could complicate a deal. Lee stock jumped 22% to $22.59. The Iowa company’s spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Lee’s papers include the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Buffalo News, along with dozens of smaller papers in more than two dozen states. The company had more than 5,000 full-time…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has named his senior adviser on energy policy as the next president of the powerful state body that regulates utilities. Alice Reynolds is set to lead the five-member California Public Utilities Commission beginning Dec. 31, taking over a job that includes oversight of Pacific Gas & Electric and other electric utilities as they grapple with wildfire safety and the use of intentional power shutoffs to prevent blazes in the nation’s most populous state. Her appointment requires confirmation from the state Senate, but that’s often a formality that comes after the person is already in the job. The commission also has control over telecommunications, rail, water and transportation companies such as Uber and Lyft. Reynolds replaces Marybel Batjer, who is retiring after taking the job in 2019. Batjer came to…

When the U.S. government allowed so-called hero pay for frontline workers as a possible use of pandemic relief money, it suggested occupations that could be eligible from farm workers and childcare staff to janitors and truck drivers. State and local governments have struggled to determine who among the many workers who braved the raging coronavirus pandemic before vaccines became available should qualify: Only government workers, or private employees, too? Should it go to a small pool of essential workers like nurses or be spread around to others, including grocery store workers? “It’s a bad position for us to be in because you have your local government trying to pick winners and losers, if you would, or recipients and nonrecipients. And hence by default, you’re saying importance versus not important,” said Jason Levesque,…

Japan and Vietnam signed a cybersecurity agreement as the two Asian nations rapidly step up their military ties amid concerns over China’s growing assertiveness. Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters that the cyberspace agreement aimed to address a“strong sense of urgency”over activities in the Indo-Pacific region that challenge the existing international order, indicating China without identifying any country by name. Kishi said talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Phan Van Giang, had taken“defense cooperation between the two countries to a new level.” Japan has in recent years stepped up cyber defense cooperation with the United States, Australia and other partners, and participated in a NATO cyberspace exercise in April. Japan has also held cybersecurity talks with Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. Japanese Defense Ministry says cyberattacks are part of rising security threats from China as…

Outsiders have long profited from Africa’s riches of gold, diamonds, and even people. Digital resources have proven no different. Millions of internet addresses assigned to Africa have been waylaid, some fraudulently, including through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the nonprofit that assigns the continent’s addresses. Instead of serving Africa’s internet development, many have benefited spammers and scammers, while others satiate Chinese appetites for pornography and gambling. New leadership at the nonprofit, AFRINIC, is working to reclaim the lost addresses. But a legal challenge by a deep-pocketed Chinese businessman is threatening the body’s very existence. The businessman is Lu Heng, a Hong Kong-based arbitrage specialist. Under contested circumstances, he obtained 6.2 million African addresses from 2013 to 2016. That’s about 5% of the continent’s total — more than Kenya has. The…