Three quick notes

1. Japan's trade minister, Akira Amari, wants to block the London-based hedge fund TCI from buying up to 20% of the equity in the country's leading electricity wholesaler.

TCI now owns 9.9% of the company, known informally as J-Power, because 10% is the cap beyond which acquisitions in certain industries deemed essential to national security require government approval in that country.

Mr. Amari said he doesn't believe his stand should be taken as any indication that Japan is closing itself to foreign investment. "J-Power is involved in a nuclear power plant project and operates power lines linking Japan's four major islands; all these could affect public order and daily life."

2. The annual meeting of Motorola this year will come off early next month without a proxy fight, now that the company has patched things up with investor Carl Icahn.

Icahn's taken a beating on MOT's stock price of late. His SEC filings indicate he's paid an average of $14.41 a share for the 144.56 million shares of the company he owns. The market price at the close of business yesterday was $9.49. So let's break out the calculator. A loss of $4.92 in the value of each share, times 144.56 million? that adds up to a loss of more than 711 million. Pretty soon, even for Icahn, you'll be talking real money.

Of course, that's only a paper loss. Icahn now has representatives on the board, and he hopes to introduce changes that will turn around the recent price slide.

3. SCSF Equities, a private-equity firm based in Boca Raton, Florida, now says that it wants to replace three of the members of the board of directors of Furniture Brands, of St. Louis, MO.

Their three nominees are: T. Scott King; Ira Kaplan; Alan Schwartz. Mr. King is the managing director of Sun Capital Partners Inc., which is the parent company of SCSF. Ira Kaplan is the barely-retired CFO of Claire's Stores Inc. The surprise in this list, the one that makes me sit up and take notice, is Alan Schwartz.

Schwartz is a distinguished academic student of corporate governance. He's been a professor at Yale University since 1987 -- teaching both at the law school and at the management school there. What's he doing in this fight?

We may try to figure that out together next week, fellow spectators. See ya Sunday.