Myanmar’s parliament on Tuesday approved the creation of a new post for Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the country’s newly installed ruling party, that is similar to prime minister. Suu Kyi is banned by the constitution from becoming president because her children hold foreign citizenship. http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Myanmar-lawmakers-OK-new-executive-post-for-Suu-7228929.php
Indonesian authorities on Tuesday blew up 23 foreign vessels that were captured for fishing illegally in the country’s waters. The boats, 13 from Vietnam and 10 from Malaysia, were blown up simultaneously in seven ports from Tarakan in northern Kalimantan to Ranai on the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea. Minister of Maritime Affairs [...]
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe said he cannot envision not needing security backing from the United States, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Tuesday that also touched on trade and other issues. “I cannot conceive of any situation within the foreseeable future when the US presence wouldn’t be necessary,” he [...]
Hostile Western forces are behind the “Panama Papers”, a state-run Chinese newspaper alleged Tuesday, as media avoided reporting revelations about Communist leaders and it emerged that the law firm involved has eight offices in the country. The scandal erupted on Sunday when media groups began revealing the results of a year-long investigation into a trove [...]
Hong Kong’s leader hit back on Tuesday at growing calls for independence from China, particularly among young activists, as he dismissed the need for any discussion on a breakaway. Unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying’s remarks come as concerns grow over increasing interference from Beijing in the semi-autonomous city’s affairs, with fears its cherished freedoms are ebbing [...]
US military bases remain essential to Japan’s security, prime minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview on Wednesday, as he brushed off comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Tokyo should be left to defend itself. Japan’s alliance with Washington has been the bedrock of its defence since the end of World War II, [...]
Japan’s only two working nuclear reactors can remain online after a court rejected an appeal by residents who said safety rules following the 2011 Fukushima disaster were inadequate, the operator confirmed on Wednesday. The court ruling was a victory for prime minister Shinzo Abe, who plans to bring back atomic energy, five years after a [...]
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong accused HSBC of “political censorship” on Wednesday after the bank rejected his application for a joint account for his new party as well as a personal account for himself. Wong, 19, announced the formation of the party, called Demosisto, last month to contest parliamentary elections later this year, saying [...]
South Korea has determined that North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong ballistic missile, which could reach all of South Korea and most of Japan, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The government’s assessment, shared in a background briefing with foreign news media representatives in Seoul, followed a [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] and several other rights groups on Tuesday urged [press release] Thailand to repeal an order granting sweeping police powers to the military, expressing concern that it will worsen human rights conditions. The law [JURIST report] grants broad powers to “prevent and suppress 27 categories of crimes including against public [...]
The military in China say a former top military official, Guo Boxiong, has confessed to taking “huge bribes” in return for promotions. Gen Guo, 74, stepped down as vice-chair of the Central Military Commission in 2012. The government began investigating him last July. He has now been handed over to prosecutors, the military said. President [...]
Thousands of US and Philippine troops, along with Australian defense forces, began annual drills Monday to prepare to quickly respond to a range of potential crises, including in the disputed South China Sea. The exercises have been opposed in recent years by China, which has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with several countries, [...]
US Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver the keynote address at the Vietnam War Summit this month at the LBJ Presidential Library, a gathering that will spotlight a critical, difficult point in Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Kerry-to-deliver-keynote-on-Vietnam-at-LBJ-Library-7230340.php
Dengue cases are expected to spike between June and August this year, said Health minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam. He said this was due to the improved weather conditions by the middle of this year. “Hot and dry weather doesn’t mean that mosquito breeding sites have dried up as well. “Mosquitoe eggs can survive [...]
Vietnam confirmed the country’s first two cases of Zika virus Tuesday. Thanh Long, Vietnam’s vice minister of Health Nguyen, told a Vietnamese newspaper that two women, aged 64 and 33, tested positive for the virus out of 1,215 samples taken from suspected cases. The younger woman is eight weeks pregnant. Zika virus infections in pregnant [...]
Dengue cases are expected to spike between June and August this year, said Health minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam. He said this was due to the improved weather conditions by the middle of this year. “Hot and dry weather doesn’t mean that mosquito breeding sites have dried up as well. “Mosquitoe eggs can survive [...]
Vietnam confirmed the country’s first two cases of Zika virus Tuesday. Thanh Long, Vietnam’s vice minister of Health Nguyen, told a Vietnamese newspaper that two women, aged 64 and 33, tested positive for the virus out of 1,215 samples taken from suspected cases. The younger woman is eight weeks pregnant. Zika virus infections in pregnant [...]
Mosquitoes have infected two women with the Zika virus in Vietnam, health authorities said on Tuesday, in the country’s first cases of a disease linked in Brazil to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect. Mosquitoes have infected two women with the Zika virus in Vietnam, health authorities said on Tuesday, in [...]
Blackstone Group LP named Christopher Heady as chair of its Asia-Pacific businesses, promoting a 16-year veteran banker who played a key role in expanding the group’s real estate business in the region. Heady will continue leading the firm’s Asia real estate division and be supported by January Nielsen, who will serve as chief operating officer [...]
Most Asian markets edged up Wednesday but early gains from an oil rally tapered off, with worries about the global economy and the upcoming earnings season keeping traders on edge. The return of nervousness to global markets put further pressure on the dollar, which was sitting at 17-month lows against the yen. However, despite the [...]
Asian stocks held near three-week lows on Wednesday as concerns about the underlying strength of the Chinese economy dogged investors. Oil prices jumped by nearly two percent on growing hopes a global output freeze may be agreed soon. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely in positive territory after falling to its [...]
Highbridge Capital Management, whose hedge-fund business oversees about $6 billion globally, hired Karyo Oh as an equities fund manager in Asia as investments in the region have expanded, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Oh is expected to start at Highbridge in Hong Kong at the end of this month to manage Asian [...]
Alaska Air Group Inc’s plan to buy Virgin America Inc makes the company a more attractive partner to Asian airlines looking for extra revenue from connecting passengers to flights within the United States, industry executives and experts say. Foreign airlines could market Alaska Air’s US flights to their customers in Asia and take a commission [...]
Myanmar’s parliament on Tuesday approved the creation of a new post for Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the country’s newly installed ruling party, that is similar to prime minister. Suu Kyi is banned by the constitution from becoming president because her children hold foreign citizenship. http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Myanmar-lawmakers-OK-new-executive-post-for-Suu-7228929.php
Chinese companies canceled more than double the amount of bond offerings in March compared with a year earlier, as mounting defaults increased financing costs. At least 62 Chinese firms postponed or scrapped 44.8 billion yuan ($7 billion) of planned note sales last month, compared with 23 companies with 15.7 billion yuan a year ago, according [...]
Huatai Securities Co Ltd is seeking to acquire US asset management software maker AssetMark Inc for as much as $800 million, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest example of a Chinese company taking an interest in US businesses. A deal for AssetMark could be the biggest Chinese investment in the US [...]
China may approve as soon as this month a plan to make it easier for banks to convert soured debt into equity, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The government may allow conversions of as much as 1 trillion yuan ($155 billion) of bad loans under the plan, said the person, who [...]
The Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce (PCCC) has called upon young entrepreneurs to expand halal e-commerce entrepreneurship in Malaysia. To help Malaysia maintain its status as a leading halal hub, PCCC president Datuk Seri Choot Ewe Seng, said the halal e-commerce industry can help young entrepreneurs in Malaysia to market their products locally and on [...]
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as Proton chair has further defanged his campaign against Putrajaya that remains ineffectual despite his vitriol, according to political watchers. Forced to leave the company most associated with the industrialisation policies of his administration, they added the former prime minister’s exit from Proton and all other official posts will signal [...]
A University of Winnipeg student has been granted refugee status, after arguing that he would be persecuted for his sexual orientation if he were to return to his home country. Hazim Ismail is gay, which is illegal in Malaysia. He is also an atheist, which is not illegal, but is frowned upon in the Muslim [...]
Two planes collided on a runway at an airport in Indonesia late Monday night, officials said. A Batik Air Boeing 737 carrying 56 people had been cleared for takeoff when its wing struck a smaller Trans Nusa plane, which was being towed, Batik said in a statement, the Independent reported. According to the Jakarta Transportation [...]
Indonesian authorities on Tuesday blew up 23 foreign vessels that were captured for fishing illegally in the country’s waters. The boats, 13 from Vietnam and 10 from Malaysia, were blown up simultaneously in seven ports from Tarakan in northern Kalimantan to Ranai on the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea. Minister of Maritime Affairs [...]
Few people enjoy paying taxes, as millions of Americans can attest to this time of year. Indeed the recently linked “Panama Papers” show how far some political and business elite will go to hide their assets from the prying eyes of finance officials. In Indonesia, tax authorities are about to gain a new weapon against [...]
Maybank Islamic Bhd is confident its Islamic banking business in Singapore will contribute further to revenue in the future. Group head, Islamic banking, and chief executive officer Datuk Muzaffar Hisham said this was in view of the ongoing support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in promoting Islamic banking. “We are very pleased with [...]
A total of 122,500 professionals were employed as engineers as of June 2015, of whom 6 in 10 were locals, minister of State for Manpower Teo Ser Luck told Parliament on Tuesday (5 April). He was replying to a question from Member of Parliament (MP) Lee Bee Wah, who had asked for the number of [...]
Singapore Airlines could face a battle from a Chinese competitor if it wants Air New Zealand’s cornerstone stake in Virgin Australia, according to analysts. Singapore Airlines is a strong contender to buy Air NZ’s 26 per cent shareholding in Virgin Australia, currently valued around $338 million. Already Virgin’s third-biggest shareholder with a 15.6 per cent [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] and several other rights groups on Tuesday urged [press release] Thailand to repeal an order granting sweeping police powers to the military, expressing concern that it will worsen human rights conditions. The law [JURIST report] grants broad powers to “prevent and suppress 27 categories of crimes including against public [...]
An order by Thailand’s junta giving sweeping police powers to soldiers is part of the “steady erosion of human rights protections”, campaigners said Tuesday, calling for the law to be rescinded. Last week the junta government of prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha issued an executive order awarding all soldiers ranked sub-lieutenant or higher the power to [...]
THAI officials have hailed the World Bank for a $3 million (Bt105 million) grant to help the country join the bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR), and said Thailand wants to lead the region in reducing greenhouse gases. Prasertsuk Chamornman, executive director of the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO), said yesterday that it took [...]
Thousands of US and Philippine troops, along with Australian defense forces, began annual drills Monday to prepare to quickly respond to a range of potential crises, including in the disputed South China Sea. The exercises have been opposed in recent years by China, which has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with several countries, [...]
Air New Zealand will start flights to the Philippines from December, further expanding its Pacific Rim network. The year-round service between Auckland and Manila will operate three times a week using Boeing 767-300 aircraft with a flight time of about 10 and a half hours each way. Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said [...]
Hold your horses. Contrary to reports of some Philippine news agencies, it remains to be seen if Filipinos figured in the Panama Papers – a massive leak of financial records containing the alleged offshore accounts of influential people across the world. The documents were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) from an [...]
Sombre-looking executives at a Japanese frozen dessert maker have appeared in a national television advert to apologise for raising the cost of a popular ice cream – by 9 cents. Akagi Nyugyo, a brand popular with millions of schoolchildren, increased the price of its GariGarikun lollies on Friday for the first time in a quarter [...]
On 29 March 2016, Japan’s new security laws came into effect. The laws were passed in September 2015 despite not being favoured by the opposition parties and many Japanese people. The new laws allow the Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF) to participate in foreign conflicts. In fact, it broadens the notion of ‘self defence’ of [...]
Looking back on three months’ worth of extreme market volatility it is clear that global currency wars have entered a new and more complicated phase. In effect, volatility has neutered the power of those central banks that have been most committed to weakening their currencies. The Bank of Japan provides the most notable example of [...]
South Korea has determined that North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong ballistic missile, which could reach all of South Korea and most of Japan, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The government’s assessment, shared in a background briefing with foreign news media representatives in Seoul, followed a [...]
A British banker with ties to North Korea set up an offshore company allegedly used by the isolated and heavily sanctioned state to fund its nuclear quest and sell weapons, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing leaked Panamanian documents. Nigel Cowie, who lived in the North for more than 20 years and had been the head [...]
South Korea is in a debate about developing its own nuclear weapons, despite the United States’ assurances to extend its “nuclear umbrella” to protect the Asian ally, a congressional report said Tuesday. The Congressional Research Service also said in the report on US-South Korea relations that such a move by the South could result in [...]
Hong Kong’s leader hit back on Tuesday at growing calls for independence from China, particularly among young activists, as he dismissed the need for any discussion on a breakaway. Unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying’s remarks come as concerns grow over increasing interference from Beijing in the semi-autonomous city’s affairs, with fears its cherished freedoms are ebbing [...]
A rare blue diamond set a new record at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong Tuesday after fetching HK$248.29 million ($31.8 million), despite a slowdown in China’s economy which has affected the auction market. The “De Beers Millennium Jewel 4″, a 10.10 carat vivid blue diamond, broke the record for the most expensive piece of jewellery sold [...]
Inequality and economic segregation are some of the unfortunate potential side effects of any urban revival. As both the middle class and their neighbourhoods decline, cities and metro areas can easily split into areas of concentrated advantage and disadvantage. This is especially the case in global superstar cities such as New York and London, which [...]
Eligible Republic of China (Taiwan) passport holders should soon be able to enjoy speedy entry into the United States after the two countries signed Monday a joint statement regarding Taiwan’s participation in the Global Entry programme. Joseph Donovan Jr., managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and Shen Lyushun (???), Taiwan’s representative to [...]
Advocates for a self-governed Taiwan cannot pursue their claims that the United States enabled China to strip Taiwanese people of their Japanese citizenship after World War II, a federal judge ruled. Fifty years after China ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895, the Allied Powers’ supreme commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, ordered the Japanese commanders in Taiwan [...]
Taiwan should build itself into a global knowledge and research hub with regard to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), given that the PLA constitutes a serious threat to Taiwan’s national security and Taiwan and China speak the same language, a Taiwanese expert on China’s military said Tuesday. With the longstanding military stand-off across the Taiwan [...]
Nam A Bank plans to report a pre-tax profit of VND300 billion ($13.3 million) this year, an increase of 19 per cent over last year. The bank announces these figures in a statement prepared for its shareholders’ meeting, which will be held in HCM City on April 15. This year, deposits at Nam A are [...]
The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) was given the Best International Payment 2015 award by the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). Anurag Bajaj, Managing director and Global Head of Sales for Banks at Standard Chartered, said that with a huge number of transactions in 2015 qualifying for high standards, Agribank could be [...]
The merger between Southern Joint Stock Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SouthernBank) and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) has been completed and Sacombank is preparing to hold its annual shareholders’ meeting. Although the chair position has been changed no less than three times within three years since Sacombank changed its group of major [...]
