IV.
International (03-01-06)
.
Daimler-Chrysler
assembles Mercedes-Benz cars E-class & C-class in
Malaysia.
It has production facilities in
Thailand, Vietnam and
Indonesia. It
sold 97,200 cars in the Asia-Pacific region in 2005, up
10% a year earlier.
.
About 70,000
supermarkets opened across rural China in 2005, said the
Ministry of Commerce. The government hopes to establish
250,000 rural supermarkets by 2008 and has $7.4 million
for the project.
.
Local reports said 95% of rural residents like the new
supermarkets, citing convenience and lower prices.
.
China’s economy
is distinguished by an appetite for investment.
Including foreign direct investments of $10 to $15
billion a month, the rate approaches 50% of GDP, the
highest ever in a huge economy & dramatically higher
than the 30% peak in Japan & South Korea.
. Since it
became a member of WTO in 2001, China has lowered tariff
barriers from 40% to below 6% today. It has the lowest
tariffs of any large developed country.
.
Cheaper Chinese goods save Americans hundreds of million
of dollars, while lower inflation has let central banks
hold interest rates lower far longer.
.
Our inflation rates, interest rates, housing markets,
wages, profits & commodity prices are all a function of
the Chinese economy.
.
Not all is bright and
rosy. The limit of one child per family has averted 300
million births in the last 30 years limiting population
growth to 1% a year. Consequently,
China
is aging faster than any country in history. By 2040,
today’s young workers will be pensioners, and 100
million Chinese will be over 80.
.
How to deal with 250 million more Chinese expected to
migrate from villages in the next 2 decades? Cities will
have to provide public health, education, social
services and mass transit or face social unrest.
. The Chinese
export boom will have more to do with foreign firms,
moving their production within China than with China’s
businesses undercutting foreign producers.
.
Newbridge
agreed to pay about $800 million for an equity stake in
Taiwan’s
Taishin Financial.
.
Four of six consumer
confidence sub-indices soared in Q3, with the outlook
from household fiancés showing the biggest increase.
.
The nation’s economy has shown signs of slight growth in
January, with the composite index of leading economic
indicators—a key predictor of economic activity in the
next 6 months—up 0.6% from a month earlier, the
Council of Economic Planning & Development (CEPD)
said.
.
MediaTek Inc, a local digital media chipset
solutions provider, has agreed with Zoran Corp of
US to settle their patent infringement disputes.
. Japan’s
central bank upgraded its view of the economy, and its
chief predicted consumer prices will keep rising,
suggesting the bank is edging toward abandoning its
ultra-easy monetary policy.
.
Japanese consumer prices rose again in Dec, official
figures showed, providing the clearest indication yet
that Japan may finally defeating inflation.
.
McDonald’s Japan has the giant’s share of the market in
the country, churning out more than a billion hamburgers
a year.
.
Japanese stocks rallied to 5-year highs after Sony’s
upward earnings revision prompted buying of technology
blue chips
. North Korea
is the world’s premier counterfeiter of US currency,
especially $100 bill, known as “supernote” because of
its quality. It surpasses the paper that comes out of
Latin America and Eastern Europe crime syndicates. It
had printed at least 19 new versions since 1989 to keep
up with US mint changes.
.
Pyongyang’s infamous bureau #39 runs the crime
for-profit scheme—including drug production,
counterfeiting & smuggling—that uses state trading
firms, embassy, diplomatic pouches & commercial cargo.
.
The payola keeps Kim Jong Il flush in cognac & caviar,
and buys loyalty from the military, security services
and other elite. It also funds NK’s embassies and buys
gears for its nuclear/ballistic missile program.
.
Congressional Research Service notes that since
1990, at least 50 drug seizures in over 20 countries
have involved North Korean diplomats & trade
officials.
.
According to defectors, NK cultivates poppies on as much
as 2,000 hectares, making it the 3rd largest
producer of heroin in the world after Afghanistan &
Burma. Japan,
Russia, China
& Europe are the leading customers.
.
The Philippine
government collected P156.82 billion in value-added tax
(VAT) last year, below the programmed level, with the
Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) missing their collection target
despite the expansion of tax coverage starting in
November, government documents show.
.
Shell signed Service Contract No. 60, with
Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Co. (RP), South China Resources
Inc and the Dept. of Energy, under which they
would search for petroleum in a relatively explored area
of 1.01 million hectares offshore north of Palawan.
.
EU projects an 800-million euro trade related fund
assistance to RP up to 2013 even as it embarks this year
on a 3.9 million euro trade assistance for the upgrade
of sanitary and playtosanitary quality of RP’s export
products.
. Thailand
has begun the bidding process for its $44 billion public
works scheme with more than 1,000 foreign firms vying
for a slice of the plan to beef up the economy by
improving mass transmit.
.
A Thai massage parlor
king turned politician was kicked out of parliament,
after the
Constitutional Court
ruled he had failed to comply with election law, e.g.,
he had not been a member of the Chart Thai Party
long enough to run for office.
.
Siam Cement Group,
Thailand’s biggest industrial conglomerate, posted a
smaller net profit last year despite an increase of
about 13% in sales to 218.27 billion baht.
.
Telekom
Malaysia
will set its entire stake in Telekom Networks Malawi
in Econet Wireless Global (Econet) for $24.5
million. The sale is subject to normal regulatory
processes.
. Former
Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has
sued ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad for accusing him of
being a homosexual, claiming that his unrepentant boss
left him no choice but proceed with the lawsuit.
.
DiGi.Com Bhd (6947. KU), Malaysia’s smallest
mobile phone operator, bought third-generation mobile
network equipment from Siemens AG.
. Commerce
Bank Bhd (BCB) will invest between RM5 million and
RM6 million to equip the remaining 127 branches with
electronic banking centers (EBCs) by the end of the
year.
.
The Indonesian
Foreign Minister has urged the international
community to be patient in dealing with Iran’s nuclear
plans and avoid a rush to judge Tehran.
.
An Indonesia Muslim party is to serve 15,000 bowls of
noodles for free as part of a campaign to dispel public
fears over poison-laced food.
.
Three more children have contracted polio in Indonesia,
bringing the total cases to 302 since the crippling
disease resurfaced last year, UNICEF said.
.
In a country with the
highest fatalities from the bird flu, the UN and
Vietnam
launched a media campaign to educate the public on how
to stop the spread of bird flu that killed 79 people
worldwide and led to slaughter of millions of chickens.
.
Vietnam has freed Nguyen Khac Toan who spent 4
years in jail for helping an overseas dissident group
collect anti-Hanoi complaints via the Internet.
.
Vietnam
has moved a step closer to joining the World Trade
Organization (WTO) after securing an accord with New
Zealand.
. Myanmar’s (Burma)
ruling military junta has reshuffled commanders
controlling forces around
Yangon
in a move aimed at tightening strongman Than Shwe’s
grip on power, a source close to the armed forces said.
.
North Korea
and Myanmar are close to an agreement on normalizing
their diplomatic ties, a Japanese newspaper reported.
.
Hundreds of ethnic Shans paraded through eastern Myanmar
jungle to mark a decade of independence from Golden
Triangle drug lord Khun Sa.
. India
responded to PM Musharraf’s remark that Pakistan cannot
talk of trade and commerce cooperation with India when
people are killing each other at the border, that New
Delhi had done more than its neighbor to boost trade
across the border an was committed to peace in the
region.
.
The government threatened private airlines that they
might be shut out of Delhi next winter unless they
equipped their pilots and aircraft to fly in foggy
conditions.
.
After nearly 3 years of relative calm, a mass grave
allegedly containing skeletal remains of 21 victims of
the Gujarat
riots have been dug up along a riverbank in Lussawad
village in the Panchmahals.
.
Tent camps sheltering
victims in devastated northern
Pakistan
may be needed for another 6 months, said a UN official
as the US
signed a $200-million grant for rebuilding the country.
. Former
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto dismissed
Interpol’s so-called red notices as part of political
campaign against her by Pres. Pervez Musharraf
for fraud and corruption.
.
Sen. Nizar Menon called PM Shaukat Assiz’s
visit to the US a great success. He added that the
country was on the way towards prosperity and progress
under Pres. Musharraf.
