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Central Banks in Driving Seat for Asia Markets
A two-day Bank of Japan meeting, a speech by the Federal Reserve's chief and minutes from the latest Reserve Bank of Australia gathering put central banks in focus for Asian markets in the week ahead. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) concludes its policy meeting on Wednesday and economists are not expecting any significant changes so soon after the central ...
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Fertility Clinic Virtus Seeks Expansion in Asia Deals After IPO
Virtus Health Pty is planning an Asia-Pacific and Middle East expansion as well as seeking acquisitions after an initial public offering said to have raised A$338 million ($329 ...
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Asia to Lock in Gains From US Lead
topped the 103 handle on Friday, marking a fresh four-and-a-half-year high, but slipped below those levels in early Asia trade after Japan's economy minister was quoted as saying that the yen's excessive strength has largely been corrected and that more weakness could be harmful. ...
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Thailand Rebels Target Children in Southern Conflict
Enlarge Thai security personnel inspect a grocer's shop where six people were shot dead by suspected Muslim militants in the southern province of Pattani on May 1, ...
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US diplomat in spy row leaves Russia Report
US diplomat accused by the Russians of being a CIA spy after they caught him allegedly trying to recruit agents last week left the country on Sunday, Russian television reported. Ryan Fogle flew out of Moscow, Russia's NTV state television channel said, broadcasting pictures showing him at Sheremetyevo International ...
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HK train accident 62 injured
Over 60 people were injured when a two-car train derailed on Hong Kong’s light railway in the north of the city, throwing passengers onto the floor, police said Friday. Groups of passengers sat dazed on the pavement near where the train derailed, some bleeding and being treated by medics. Others were taken away on stretchers by dozens of paramedics and firefighters, television news ...
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Taiwan and Singapore conclude trade pact talks
Taiwan and Singapore have concluded two-year talks about a bilateral trade pact and will release an official report once an assessment has been completed, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The two sides are in the process of selecting appropriate legal texts for an official report, the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore and the Trade Office of the Republic of ...
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Philippines fears for workers in Taiwan amid row over death
The Philippine envoy to Taiwan on Friday advised thousands of Filipino workers there to eat at home and avoid the streets while emotions run high on the island over the shooting death of a fisherman by the Philippine coast guard. Philippine representative Amadeo Perez said after returning to Manila from Taipei late Thursday that his government has verified at least one attack, in which a ...
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UN panel says sanctions are delaying development of N Korea’s…
North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited weapons, UN experts say in a new report. Key parts of the expert panel’s report, obtained Friday by the Associated Press, provide further information on North Korea’s attempts to evade four rounds of ...
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N Korea condemns media freedom but praises two US reporters
How does North Korea celebrate World Press Freedom Day? First of all, two weeks late, on May 15 rather than May 3, presumably (and tellingly) because that’s how long it took to get around to it. But get around to it North Korea did, with a special editorial in the state-run Rodong Sinmun, the country’s preeminent newspaper. Entitled ';Mockery of Press,'; it targets the US ...
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Japan’s ‘secret’ trip to N Korea disrupts united stance against…
A small crack has appeared in the international show of unity against North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, following the ';secret'; visit to Pyongyang this week by a special adviser to Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Isao Iijima arrived in the North Korean capital on Tuesday for a four-day visit that many believe was aimed at restarting talks on the ...
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China joins e-tail superhighway – The Age
When you think about centres of technological innovation, Silicon Valley, Seattle and Seoul are probably the first places that come to mind. After all, they are the homes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Samsung – companies whose innovations transform the way other sectors, from financial services to telecoms and media, do business. Now, however, the rise of ...
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Foxconn says needs more time to further cut workers’ overtime
Foxconn Technology Group said on Friday it needs more time to reduce overtime at its China factories after labour monitors appointed by top client Apple Inc said cutting workers’ hours by a July 1 target would be a challenge. Apple last year commissioned the Fair Labour Association (FLA) to investigate working conditions at the plants after Foxconn, the holding company for Hon Hai ...
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China urban private sector wages up 17.1pct in 2012
China’s private sector wages in urban areas grew 17.1 percent in 2012, official figures showed Friday, even as the country’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in 13 years. Average urban pay in private companies increased to 28,752 yuan ($4,681) last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website. But the rise was slower than the 18.3 percent of the previous ...
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Some Chinese tourists ‘uncivilised’ top official
The dire manners and ';uncivilised behaviour'; of some Chinese tourists abroad are harming the country’s image, said a top official who lamented their poor ';quality and breeding';, according to state-run media. Wang Yang, one of China’s four vice premiers, singled out for condemnation ';talking loudly in public places, jay-walking, spitting and wilfully ...
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Chinese ships in disputed-islands waters Japan
Three Chinese government ships entered the waters of disputed islands on Friday, Japan’s coastguard said, more than a year after then-Tokyo governor set off the row by announcing plans to buy them. The Chinese maritime surveillance vessels were spotted off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea at around 2:30 pm (0530 GMT), the coastguard said. It is ...
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Japan PM says shrine visits ‘natural’
Prime minister Shinzo Abe defended in an interview Friday the right of Japan’s leaders to visit a controversial shrine to war dead but hit back at critics who accuse him of revisionism. Amid the latest flare-up with China and South Korea over history, Abe quoted a US scholar as comparing the Yasukuni shrine to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, which has a section for ...
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Philippines’ shooting violates international law ministry
The fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fishing boat by a Philippine government vessel may involve criminal conduct and violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday. A joint patrol of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources shot up a Taiwanese fishing boat, the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, while it was ...
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Philippines Economy Booming But Poverty and Unemployment Remain Problematic
Shortly after my piece on the Philippines’ continuing structural economic vulnerabilities, which generated considerable controversy and heated discussions among experts and observers alike, the country’s stock markets managed to record new historic highs – breaching the 7,000 mark and beyond. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, following in the footsteps of ...
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Kingdom Philippines to finally sign worker agreement tomorrow
The long-awaited labour agreement on Filipino household service workers (HSW) will finally be signed by the Kingdom and the Philippines tomorrow. Labour minister Adel Fakeih and his Philippine counterpart Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapiliz-Baldoz are scheduled to ink the bilateral labour agreement. Baldoz arrives today with key Filipino labour officials for the signing, said Labour Attache ...
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Philippine ‘massacre clan’ enjoys election wins
A clan whose chiefs are on trial for the Philippines’ worst political massacre secured big wins in local elections this week, results showed Friday, deepening fears that justice may never be served. Leaders of the Ampatuan family and their gunmen are accused of massacring 58 people, including 32 journalists, in the southern province of Maguindanao more than three years ago in a bid to ...
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Indonesia Philippines and Burma Doing Well But Leaders…
Voters in the Philippines appear to have delivered a resounding victory to President Benigno Aquino in midterm elections. The son of former President Corazon Aquino looks set to control both houses of Congress, giving him a mandate to continue his reform policies. His biggest worry now is making them stick. In the first half of his six-year term, Aquino arrested his predecessor on corruption ...
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Thailand agrees to offer duty-free mkt access of select Bangladesh products
Thailand has agreed to offer duty free market access of selected Bangladeshi products to its market as it seeks to increase bilateral trade and investment, a commerce ministry statement said. The agreement came at the 3rd meeting of Bangladesh-Thailand Joint Trade Committee, held from May 14-15, 2013 in Bangkok. Commerce minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader led an eight-member Bangladeshi ...
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Tata Motors plan to develop Thailand plant put on hold
Struggling to cope with a slump in demand, Tata Motors has taken a call to postpone the development of its new assembly plant in Thailand worth 10 billion baht (around Rs 1,839 crore). The automaker has instead decided to break into Thailand’s passenger car market during the third quarter of this year with the introduction of its Nano budget car. At the end of 2012, Tata Motors had ...
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Rescuers digging through rubble of tunnel at Freeport’s mine in Indonesia to reach 23 trapped
Rescuers are working for a fourth day to dig through a caved-in tunnel at a giant US-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia to try to reach 23 trapped workers. The operator of the Grasberg mine in Indonesia’s province of Papua, PT Freeport Indonesia, said Friday that rescuers had successfully cleared two passages to provide access for heavy equipment to help expedite the rescue ...
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