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Tensions rise between China N Korea over boat held hostage
A Chinese fishing boat was seized by armed North Koreans who are demanding a ransom of nearly $100,000 for the release of the ship and 16 Chinese crew members. The Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper suggested in Monday’s editions that the capture of the boat might have been in retaliation for Chinese support of UN sanctions on North Korea. The ship, known as ...
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A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe
When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material. They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court ...
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Korea’s GS EC wins $1 billion refinery deal from Turkey
South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction said on Tuesday it had received an order worth 1.16 trillion won ($1.04 billion) from Turkey to build a refinery plant. It said in a regulatory filing that Italian firm Saipem, Spanish oil engineering firm Tecnicas Reunidas and Japanese company Itochu were also part of the joint construction ...
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Mother of China rape victim turns rights crusader
The kidnap, rape and forced prostitution of her daughter set Tang Hui on a mission to seek justice. But it was Chinese authorities’ repeated obstructions, even detaining her, that made her a die-hard activist. For seven years she has fought against the men who violated her child, and the system that blocked her, becoming a cause celebre in 2012 after her efforts landed her in a labour ...
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China’s Li to pay tribute to heroic Indian doctor
China’s premier will pay his respects Tuesday to the family of an Indian doctor who died treating Chinese troops more than 70 years ago, becoming a rare symbol of friendship between the two nations. Li Keqiang, like Chinese leaders before him, will take time out of his busy India visit to meet relatives of Dwarkanath Kotnis, who provided emergency medical aid for four years during the ...
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China Trade Surplus Seen by BofA at One-Tenth Customs Figure
China’s trade surplus is one-tenth the official $61 billion reported so far this year after accounting for fake transactions used to disguise hot-money inflows, Bank of America Corp. says. The true surplus is about $6 billion, according to Lu Ting, Bank of America’s head of Greater China economics in Hong Kong. That would be the smallest for January-April since the nation posted a ...
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China insurer PICC PC plans $938 million rights offer
Chinese state-controlled insurer PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd (PICC P&C) is raising 5.76 billion yuan ($938 million) to bolster capital, expecting strong growth and amid signs that profitability of Chinese insurers are coming under pressure. China’s property and casualty insurance market is expanding between 10-15 percent annually, making it the fastest growing in the world. ...
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In China Weighing Economic and Political Freedoms
As discussed in last week’s column, China’s leadership is said to be making plans to unveil reforms at the next meeting of all members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, likely to be held in October. Yet any policy changes may satisfy calls for deeper economic reforms but disappoint hopes for broader political reforms. Last week Reuters reported that ...
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China ‘cannot be free rider on trade’
China cannot be a ';free rider'; in global trade, the EU’s trade commissioner has warned. Karel De Gucht said that China had to take responsibility for the global trading system, just as the EU did. De Gucht’s comments come just days after the EU said it may investigate claims that Chinese telecom firms have been paid subsidies, allowing them to flood markets with cheap ...
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Goldman sells final stake in China’s ICBC
Goldman Sachs is selling the rest of its Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) stake, worth around $1.1 billion, in a move to exit an investment it made into the bank seven years ago. Goldman is selling the shares of China’s largest commercial banking group in the range of HK$5.47 to HK$5.50 each ($0.70 to $0.71), a discount of 2.5 percent to 3.0 percent compared to ...
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3 NYU Scientists Accepted Bribes From China US Says
It was, the chief federal prosecutor in Manhattan said on Monday, ';a case of inviting and paying for foxes in the henhouse.'; Three researchers at the New York University School of Medicine who specialised in magnetic resonance imaging technology had been working on research sponsored by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. But, prosecutors charged on Monday, the three ...
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Japan Plans Low-Interest Loans for Rooftop Solar Nikkei Says
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to provide low-interest loans to companies that borrow residential rooftop space for solar power generation, the Nikkei newspaper reported today. The ministry plans to make loans available through government financial institutions such as Development Bank of Japan Inc., the newspaper cited Trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi as saying. ...
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Singapore exports to Europe dropped by 13.4pct
No thanks to lower pharmaceuticals shipments. According to Maybank Kim Eng, EU, South Korea and Malaysia were the major disappointments. Goods headed for the EU registered its fifth straight declines as it fell by -13.4 percent YoY (March 2013: -16.2 percent YoY) mainly on lower shipments of pharmaceuticals, IC’s and parts of PC’s. It reported that exports to South Korea (April ...
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Caroline Herrera has designs on Singapore’s passion for fashion
Singapore recently played host to a showcase of fashion for one of the best known luxury brands in the world. Boasting the most millionaire households per capita in the world, designers are taking this once staid city far more seriously. And designer Carolina Herrera is also hoping to cash in on South East Asian interest in high fashion. She opened this year’s Audi Fashion Festival ...
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Philippines Further Limits Access to Special Deposit Accounts
The Philippine central bank will further limit access to special deposit accounts, stepping up efforts to curb inflows and reduce costs of managing liquidity. Starting 2014, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will ban so-called investment management activities, a type of account in banks’ trust departments, from SDAs, according to a memorandum posted on its website today. The central bank will ...
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Thailand’s $12b water management programme faces criticisms
Critics at the Second Asia Pacific Water Summit in Chiang Mai have taken aim at the Thai government’s $12 billion water management plan. Academics and policy makers said the flood programme was expensive and unsound. They said the plan does not factor in environmental or health impact assessments on flood prone areas, violating Thailand’s constitution. Thailand’s Science ...
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Amnesty bill to reignite tensions in Thailand
Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Chalerm Yubamrung, plans to introduce a contentious amnesty bill into parliament on Thursday that will stoke new political tensions three years after bloody street protests and a military crackdown exposed Thailand’s deep divisions. The so-called reconciliation bill would absolve all political offenders involved in protests since a 2006 coup and ...
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In Thailand Anniversary of ‘Savage May’ Passes with Little Incident
Sunday marked the third anniversary of the culmination, with 89 deaths, of what has become known in Bangkok as ';savage May.'; Although an estimated 26,000 people assembled at a rally Sunday in Bangkok to mark the occasion, Thailand has calmed down from the long stint of political turmoil and violence. ';We all have little things that fill the Bangkok Post, but the country is ...
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Indonesia lifts arrests of people smugglers – Sydney Morning Herald
Another people smuggler has been arrested by Indonesian police in the most concerted effort in years to catch and lock up those who transport refugees by boat to Australia. Alleged Iranian smuggling kingpin Mohammad Hadi, also known as Sayed Ali, was arrested with two accomplices at 2am on Monday in an apartment building in West Jakarta. His operation was exposed by a tip-off two weeks ...
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Death Toll Mounts From Indonesia Mine Accident
The confirmed death toll from an underground mining accident at a big mine run by PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua has risen to 17 people, with authorities saying the tally likely will rise to 28 in the coming days, making this one of the country’s worst mining disasters. Nine more bodies were pulled from the collapsed training site 500 meters below the surface at Freeport’s remote ...
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Indonesia’s Basri Sees Fuel Subsidies Infrastructure as Key
Indonesia’s new Finance minister Chatib Basri said cutting fuel subsidies and building more infrastructure will be his two main priorities. Reducing subsidies will strengthen the rupiah, Asia’s worst performer in the past 12 months excluding the yen, Basri said in a Bloomberg TV interview today with Rishaad Salamat. The land acquisition law, signed by President Susilo Bambang ...
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UBS predicts Malaysia’s 2013 GDP at below 5pct – The Star Online
Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is unlikely to surpass 5 percent in 2013, given the weaker 4.1 percent growth achieved in the first quarter of the year, according to UBS Investment Bank. ';GDP grew 4.1 percent in the first quarter. You need a pretty strong bounce-back to reach 5 percent in 2013,'; said UBS senior Asean economist Edward Teather via a tele-conference call ...
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Chinese PM begins Pakistan visit
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Pakistan Wednesday for a two-day visit where he will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif as the long-time allies look to boost trade ...
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US looking to end Myanmar sanctions after landmark visit
A key US senator on Tuesday backed an end to US sanctions on Myanmar after a landmark visit by the country's reformist leader, signalling a new normalisation in relations despite rights ...
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Global factors are strong drivers of Asia hotels revenues.
A study of global and local factors that drive changes in hotels' revenue per available room (RevPAR) in eight major Asian cities found that the revenues for the hotels in these cities are strongly subject to global forces. "When we initially interviewed the hotel managers, they listed many local events and factors as potential drivers of their revenue, and they were not focused on ...
South East Asia Digest
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Southeast Asia's growing prominence in world trade
Southeast Asia has been, for many centuries, a major part of world trade and the recent recession has not hampered this position as the region is recovering much faster than many more developed countries.
Southeast Asia, although geographically large, covering an area of around 5 million square miles, is comparatively small economically in relation to the number of people that inhabit the area. The Southeast Asian region is home to over 500 million people and yet the region’s GDP is just US$1.5 trillion, or around US$2,500 per person annually. Read more
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