Lead Articles

  • Philippines bans fishing near disputed shoal

    Philippines bans fishing near disputed shoal

    The Philippines imposed a two-month ban on fishing around a disputed South China Sea shoal on Wednesday, after saying it did not recognise a similar order by China. Both countries have had ships posted at Scarborough Shoal since April 10, when Chinese vessels prevented a Philippine ship from arresting Chinese fishermen. The fishing bans, both [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:53 AM
  • China, Japan hold maritime talks on islands row

    China, Japan hold maritime talks on islands row

    China and Japan are holding high-level maritime talks expected to focus on a group of uninhabited islands that are at the heart of an ongoing territorial row between the two countries. The two nations have long had strained relations, often triggered by rival sovereign claims in the East China Sea over gas fields and the [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:52 AM
  • China pushes N Korea to drop nuclear test plan – sources

    China pushes N Korea to drop nuclear test plan – sources

    China has been quietly and gently pressuring North Korea to scrap plans for a third nuclear test, said two sources with knowledge of closed-door discussions between the countries, but there is no indication how the North will react. If North Korea goes ahead with the test, China would consider taking some retaliatory steps, but they [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:50 AM
  • China military paper warns officers to toe party line

    China military paper warns officers to toe party line

    China’s top military newspaper warned officers on Tuesday to remain the ruling Communist Party’s “most loyal” defenders in the face of what it called Western plotting, describing recent cases of ill-discipline and corruption as a “profound warning”. The commentary in the Liberation Army Daily did not specify what problems might have prompted the unusually blunt [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Reuters | 7:01 AM
  • Blind dissident Chen’s plight revives China rights movement

    Blind dissident Chen’s plight revives China rights movement

    China may have sown the seeds of its next human rights row with the United States even as it looks to end the current one over blind dissident Chen Guangcheng, with its treatment of him inspiring a band of lawyers to join his human-rights battle. The tough line over Chen, whose plea for US protection [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Reuters | 7:48 AM
  • Korean activists detained in China: Seoul

    Korean activists detained in China: Seoul

    Four South Korean activists have been detained in China since March on suspicion of spying after they interviewed North Korean refugees living in hiding there, according to an anti-Pyongyang group. South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed the four were arrested in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian on March 29 on charges of “endangering state security”. [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:01 AM
  • Thailand: Two years after crackdown, still no justice

    Thailand: Two years after crackdown, still no justice

    The Thai government has not arrested or charged a single soldier or official for any of the scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries during the political violence in Bangkok two years ago. (Bangkok) – The Thai government has not arrested or charged a single soldier or official for any of the scores of deaths [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Trust.org | 7:01 AM
  • Copper miner Freeport concerned about Indonesia

    Copper miner Freeport concerned about Indonesia

    The head of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold said he was concerned about violence around its vast mine in Indonesia but was confident the company could resolve issues with the Jakarta government over moves to limit foreign miners’ operations and profits. Richard Adkerson, president and chief executive of the world’s largest publicly-traded copper company, said he [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Reuters | 7:01 AM
  • Thailand’s government seeks to get a head start on improving road safety

    Thailand’s government seeks to get a head start on improving road safety

    Motorbikes are ubiquitous in Thailand, but helmets are not. Activists aim to tackle a problem that claims thousands of lives If you’re a visitor to Thailand who likes to do as the locals do, you may board one of the motorbikes that whisk the country’s inhabitants from one golden beach to the next. But in [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Guardian.co.uk | 7:01 AM
  • Indonesian organisers fight for Lady Gaga gig

    Indonesian organisers fight for Lady Gaga gig

    Lady Gaga’s Indonesian promoters have vowed to fight to save her show, despite police denying it a permit and Islamic hardliners threatening “chaos” if she comes to the mostly Muslim nation. Production company Big Daddy reached out on Twitter to Lady Gaga fans, known as “little monsters”, saying it still hoped to find a way [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:35 AM
  • Korean office workers pick artists as happiest

    Korean office workers pick artists as happiest

    Office workers in Korea think that artists have the happiest profession, according to a new survey on job satisfaction published by Job Korea on Tuesday. The employment portal asked 1,709 male and female office workers what they thought to be “the happiest profession.” Artists topped the list with 18.7 percent, a job description that includes [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | Korea Herald | 7:01 AM
  • Burma: Malaria’s crucial battleground

    Burma: Malaria’s crucial battleground

    The global fight against malaria has made historic progress over the past decade. But now the emergence in Southeast Asia of malarial parasites resistant to artemisinin – the current gold-standard drug for treating the disease – poses grave new challenges. While many affected countries in the region are taking swift countermeasures, the situation remains serious [...]

    17-May-2012 Intellasia | WSJ | 7:01 AM

Featured articles

Asia stocks drift after savage sell-off

17-May-2012 Intellasia | Marketwatch | 10:40 AM

Asian stocks oscillated between small gains and losses Thursday, one day after a heavy beatdown that saw South Korean, Australian and Hong Kong stocks put in their worst [...]
» More

Asian marts lower on new Greek concerns

17-May-2012 Intellasia | Business Times | Reuters | AFP | Bloomberg | AP | 7:59 AM

Asian markets tumbled yesterday and the euro fell to a new four-month low on news Greece will go to the polls again after talks to form a coalition failed, stoking fears it [...]
» More

China dismissive of Dalai Lama murder plot claim

China dismissive of Dalai Lama murder plot claim

17-May-2012 Intellasia | AFP | 7:05 AM

China has accused the Dalai Lama of “deceiving the world” and “spreading false information” after Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader said he was [...]
» More

Gottex acquires fund-of-hedge-funds Penjing in Asia push

17-May-2012 Intellasia | Reuters | 7:01 AM

Swiss fund-of-hedge-funds manager Gottex (GFMN.S) is buying Hong Kong-based Penjing Asset Management, a year after Gottex co-founder Max Gottschalk moved to Asia to [...]
» More

Asian tigers move away from dollar

17-May-2012 Intellasia | RT.com | 7:01 AM

China, Japan and South Korea are taking further steps to replace the dollar in trade between them as the countries start negotiations on a free trade agreement, Vladimir [...]
» More


Society

Indonesian organisers fight for Lady Gaga gig

Indonesian organisers fight for Lady Gaga gig

Lady Gaga’s Indonesian promoters have vowed to fight to save her show, despite police denying it a permit and Islamic hardliners threatening “chaos” if she comes to the mostly Muslim nation. Production company Big Daddy reached out on Twitter to Lady Gaga fans, known as “little monsters”, saying it still hoped to find a way [...]

Chinese activist’s family suffers reprisals, Chen tells US lawmakers

Chinese activist’s family suffers reprisals, Chen tells US lawmakers

A Chinese human rights activist who ignited an international incident when he escaped house arrest last month told US lawmakers Tuesday that his relatives continue to suffer government reprisals. “My elder brother was taken away by these thugs without any reasoning and then they came back and started beating up my nephew and they used [...]

Thailand’s government seeks to get a head start on improving road safety

Thailand’s government seeks to get a head start on improving road safety

Motorbikes are ubiquitous in Thailand, but helmets are not. Activists aim to tackle a problem that claims thousands of lives If you’re a visitor to Thailand who likes to do as the locals do, you may board one of the motorbikes that whisk the country’s inhabitants from one golden beach to the next. But in [...]

FinanceAsia

Asia stocks drift after savage sell-off

Asian stocks oscillated between small gains and losses Thursday, one day after a heavy beatdown that saw South Korean, Australian and Hong Kong stocks put in their worst one-day performance of the year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HK:HSI +0.64 percent rose 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite Index CN:000001 +0.74 percent edged up 0.2%. South [...]

The Malaysia Fund, Inc. Announces Change in Benchmark, Information Regarding Share Repurchase Program, Portfolio Manager Change and Creation of Closed-End Fund Committee

The Malaysia Fund, Inc. MAY -2.35 percent (the “Fund”) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a change in the Fund’s benchmark to the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Total Return Index. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (formerly the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite (KLSE) Index), which had historically been used by the Fund [...]

Asian marts lower on new Greek concerns

Asian markets tumbled yesterday and the euro fell to a new four-month low on news Greece will go to the polls again after talks to form a coalition failed, stoking fears it will exit the eurozone. Tokyo fell 1.12 percent at 8,801.17 while Sydney was 2.36 percent lower at 4,165.5 and Seoul closed 3.08 percent [...]

Health

Burma: Malaria’s crucial battleground

Burma: Malaria’s crucial battleground

The global fight against malaria has made historic progress over the past decade. But now the emergence in Southeast Asia of malarial parasites resistant to artemisinin – the current gold-standard drug for treating the disease – poses grave new challenges. While many affected countries in the region are taking swift countermeasures, the situation remains serious [...]

Dengue death tally skewed by CHIKV

An old virus that shares similar symptoms to dengue fever had resurfaced in Cambodia in recent months and was a leading factor in this year’s sharp spike in deaths attributed to dengue, health officials said yesterday. Last seen in Cambodia in the early 1990s, the Chikungunya, or CHIKV, virus had re-emerged in Cambodia over the [...]

Taiwan asks US to supply diagnostic report on mad cow disease

A Taiwanese delegation asked the United States to provide a diagnostic report on the latest mad cow disease case when the group visited the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) Thursday. The delegation was received by Elisabeth Lautner, director of the NVSL in Ames, Iowa, which confirmed the mad cow disease case on April 24. Lautner [...]

ResourceAsia

China mulls unifying its many rare earths manufacturers

China, stronghold of the world’s supply of rare earths, is set to carry out a proposal of uniting its many rare earths manufacturers into a one large company that represents the entire sector. Chen Yanhai, chief secretary of the Resource Department from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the government has come out [...]

CBM Asia Enters Indonesia Coalbed Methane Partnership With Continental Energy Corporation

CBM Asia Development Corp. (“CBM Asia” or the “Company”) (tsx venture:TCF)(us:CBMDF)(frankfurt:IY2). CBM Asia is pleased to announce it has entered into a Joint Study and Bid Group agreement with Continental Energy Corporation CPPXF -18.52 percent to investigate coalbed methane (“CBM”) exploration and development opportunities in Indonesia. Under the agreement, CBM Asia and Continental will jointly [...]

China joins shale-gas game

China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec) says it will start to pumping gas from a shale project in the southwestern province of Sichuan in early June – the first such production in the country. This project is in Fuling, Sichuan province, and will be completed by two subsidiaries of Sinopec: Jianghan Oilfield and Exploration Southern Co. Jianghan [...]