IV. International
(02-16-06)
. 2006
is supposed to be a year
of bad luck for those of the dog sign. Reports are
surfacing that firms passed over job candidates born in
years under the dog sign in the country’s 12-animal
astrological cycle.
.
Other illegal practices include hiring by height, blood
type and in one uproar-causing case tied to government
jobs, the shape of women breasts.
.
Chinese lawmakers are debating new rules to end hiring
discrimination based on gender, religion and
ethnicity.
.
All Chinese mobile
phone users must now register using real names.
Similar moves have been made in
Singapore, Switzerland,
Malaysia & Thailand
which had most of the 120 bombings since 2004 that were
set off by mobile phone.
.
Morgan Stanley may see
the departure of another key officer in units in
China
and India,
two of Asia’s
most promising markets.
.
China
signaled a desire to diversify its foreign-currency
holdings, mostly in US government bonds and plans to
ease some overseas-investment controls.
.
Shanghai’s investment
arm is set to become the biggest shareholder in
Pudeng Bank, relegating Citigroup to the #2 slot.
.
The Chinese
state-controlled energy company CNOOC Ltd.,
announced a $2.27 billion deal to buy a 45% stake in a
substantial offshore oil field in Nigeria.
. China’s
trade surplus more than tripled in 2005, exceeding $100
billion, a gap that likely will intensify US
protectionist sentiment.
. Foreign
direct investment continued to flow into China in
2005, hitting $60.33 billion, 0.5% short of the record
figure a year earlier.
. Japan
hopes to coax more women, 2/3 of whom don’t return to
work after childbirth, into top sales. A new cabinet
plan will offer new mothers flexible work hours, convert
vacant retail spots into day-care centers and subsidize
loan to women workers.
. Japan’s
latest economic recovery is more durable than
previous expansions because it is driven by private
demand rather than government spending, said its Finance
Minister.
. Japan’s
central bank cited economic improvement in all its
regions and its chief forecast sustained consumer-price
rises.
.
MacDonald’s rice
burgers, launched in
Singapore
to appeal to local palates, have sold so well they are
being introduced in Taiwan.
.
Exports from Singapore gained 18% in Dec from a year
earlier, the government said, as pharmaceutical
shipments rose almost 5x, and companies, like
Chartered Semiconductor Mfg. shipped more
electronics.
.
Singapore’s state-owned ports group, PSA
International, is unlikely to break up P&O should it
succeed in a battle to take over the British ports and
ferries firm, reported the Business Times.
.
Samsung
(of South
Korea) said
profit climbed 40% in Q4, as margins improved for
flat-panel screens and memory chips.
.
Tongsun Park
was arrested in Houston after being expelled from
Mexico. He was accused of accepting millions of dollars
from Iraq in UN oil-for-food scandal and will be moved
to NY to face additional charges.
.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il toured
Shanghai after in a direct flight from Pyongyang in his
first overseas trip by plane.
.
US and South Korea withdrew their last remaining staff
from the sit of two North Korean nuclear reactors,
ending a decade-old construction project.
. Lotte
Shopping filed IPO plans to sell $3.78 billion of
share in Seoul
and London in the largest IPO by a South Korean firm.
.
Beginning 1/31/06, used
vehicles brought by Filipinos returning to the
Philippines
under the No-Dollar Importation Program (NDI)
shall no longer be subject to the P500,000 additional
specific import duty.
.
Remittances from the US increased by a
record-breaking 32.4% compared to the previous year.
Remittances from US totaled $5.32 billion out of $8.83
billion or 60% of total global remittances.
.
Less than 30% of an estimated 8.1 million Filipinos
overseas, or specifically the estimated 2.5 million
Filipinos in US, have generated 60% of the total
worldwide remittances.
.
Thai Airways Intl Public
Company Ltd. (THAI)
has no plan to raise air fares at the moment despite
rising fuel costs. The number of passengers per flight
has grown to 78-80% on the average.
.
Chinese language
courses are gaining popularity in
Thailand,
where it is seen as the new dialect of business &
diplomacy in East Asia.
.
The Ticon Property Fund (TFUND.TH), which trades
on Thailand’s stock exchange, plans to offer new units
of THB10 each to expand the fund 125% to 395 million
units, likely in mid-March following regulatory
approval.
.
A total of 553
Indonesian housemaids in
Qatar
have run away from their sponsors during 2005, mostly
from lack of food, proper accommodation, medical
treatment & sexual harassment, said the Indonesian
Embassy.
. A security
pact expected this year between Indonesia & Australia
will make a formal end to a 6-year violence in East
Timor.
.
Indonesia imposed a 5% tax on coal exports to
ensure the fuel is available to domestic businesses and
increase its use in the country, said the Minister of
Trade.
.
Daimler-Chrysler said it
plans to establish a local production facility for its
flagship Mercedes-Benz S-class in
Malaysia
next year.
.
The board of Malaysia’s
National Insurance Holdings (237.5 KU) has
advised minority shareholders to reject a mandatory
public offer from Mayban Fortis, saying the
takeover price “seems relatively low.”
.
The ringgit was lower against the US dollar on
profit taking after recent gains, dealers said. The
ringgit was trading at 3.7595/7615 from 3.7430/7450.
.
Vietnam’s deputy foreign
minister urged EU officials not to hike duties charged
Vietnam
for the shoes it exports to Europe. European cobblers
complain that the shoes are dumped in EU at below
production cost.
.
The Kenh Dong Water Supply Joint Stock Co. (WASS)
will supply Ho Chi Minh City with 150k cubic meter of
safe water as day as of January, 2008.
.
Kitchens from Ho Chi Minh City schools, where hundreds
of students fell victims to food poisoning, did not
conform to basic hygienic requirements, said local
inspectors.
.
A conference in
Burma
(Myanmar) last month reported on the conditions of
state-run culture and production process.
.
The authorities
inspected a thriving 300-acres Hsingweli orange
plantation as a poppy-substitute crop in Naung
Mon Village in
Lashio Township.
.
The Minister of Energy inspected research work
for using physic nut as diesel-substitute fuel being
carried out at Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise,
the #1 refinery in
Thanlyin Township.
. Cambodian
P.M. Hun Sen has ordered 4 government critics facing
defamation charges to be released on bail “as a gift” to
the US, though he will not drop the charges against
them.
.
Tourist arrivals in
Cambodia
jump by 35% in 2005, as the country seeks nearly to
triple the number of foreign visitors in the next 5
years.
.
A year after gunmen abducted more than 80 women at an
anti-trafficking center in Cambodia, some staff members
criticized official efforts to rescue the women. Other
urged reconciliation with a government stung by
international criticism.
.
The global outsourcing
and technology industries could be worth $110 billion by
2010, with
India
capturing more than half, said Indian software group
Nasscom.
. A southern
Indian region where 200 million speak Bhojpuri, a
Hindu dialect, is outpacing Bollywood. Bhojpuri
doubled its output in 30 films in 2005.
.
Scientists in India and France have painstakingly
swapped the structure of a key protein that helps the
one-cell malaria parasite infect human cells after it is
transferred through mosquito bites.
.
Two Indian biotech cells, LifeCell and
Reliance, are cashing in on the country’s 26 million
annual birthrate and optimism over stem cell research,
coaxing parents to pay about $1,300 to store blood from
the newborns’ umbilical cords.
.
India’s tech capital (Bangalore)
will soon be known as the town of “boiled beans,” after
receiving government permission to change its name in
Nov ’06 to Bengaluru which is closer to its
original name.
. Sri Lanka’s
truce frayed further as a grenade damaged a base used by
Nordic monitors. India reports some Tamil refugees have
begun arriving.
.
The World Bank added its voice to mounting
international concerns over escalating violence in Sri
Lanka with its rep warning that further deterioration
could dent aid from the bank.
.
Sri Lanka’s central bank left its benchmark interest
rate unchanged to spur investment & economic growth
after 4 increases last year slowed inflation.
