IV. International
(01-16-06)
.
The UN and WHO
warned of a rise in the incidence of human immune
deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency
syndrome, and set up a program aimed at curbing their
spread.
. The target
populations include men who have sex with me, sex
workers and their clients, injecting drug users, and
ethnic and cultural minorities.
.
The report cited HIV outbreaks among MSM (men having sex
with men) in
Cambodia, China, India Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and
Vietnam and
in Latin America. National anti-AIDS programs are not
focused on these populations, the report said.
.
The $1 billion deal to revive one of Asia’s largest
nickel mines is on the brink of collapse after
disagreements over valuation and share ownership
prompted would-be Chinese investors to seek more time to
review their offer.
.
Some $5 million worth of business deals between
semiconductors and electronics manufacturers and
suppliers were struck during a “reverse trade fair”
attended by multinational and homegrown firms
operating in Southeast Asia, the Center for
International Expositions & Missions reported.
.
State-owned Philippine National Oil Co (PNOC) has
been invited by the national firms in Myanmar and
Cambodia to conduct oil and gas explorations in
their countries.
.
Asia’s economic boom has caused a surge in car and
motorcycle sales, undercutting efforts to provide public
transport in the region and clean-up of its dirty skies,
delegates were told in the 3-day Better Air Quality
Conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia last month.
.
The Industrial and
Commercial Bank of
China
(ICBC)
overtook Bank of America (BAC) on the last
trading day of 2006 to become the second-biggest bank in
the world in terms of market capitalization. A 10% jump
in its mainland share price on Christmas Day pushed it
above #4 HSBC in rankings. Only Citigroup, valued
at $274 billion, remains ahead of the Chinese bank.
.
China’s Communist Party
has a new agenda: it is encouraging people to discuss
what it means to be a major world power and has largely
stopped denying that China intends to become one soon.
.
The seventh richest man in China today (Shi Zhongrong)
has a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at
$1.43 billion. He made his money, not in real estate,
banking, manufacturing to Wal-Mart or construction. He
is China’s leading maker of silicon photovoltaic
solar cells which convert sunlight into electricity.
.
Itself a major recipient of foreign aid until recently,
China promised well over $10 billion in low-interest
loans and debt relief to Asian, African and Latin
American countries over the next two years.
.
Ever since China’s foreign-exchange reserves surpassed
the $1 trillion mark in November, there has been a
flurry of proposals on alternative “uses” for the
swelling kitty.
.
Confidence among
Japan’s
largest manufacturers
hit a 2-year high in December, boosting markets and
easing concerns that the world’s second-largest economy
may be losing steam.
.
The Bank of Japan’s quarterly “tankan” survey’s
most watched index, measuring confidence at major
manufacturers, rose to 25 from 24 in September, the
highest in more than 2 years. That was in line with
forecasts.
.
Chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease that has
devastated frogs and other amphibian populations
overseas, was confirmed in imported pets in Tokyo, the
first reported case in Asia, experts said Thursday.
.
More than 20
Taiwan
companies stand to suffer financial losses in the
billions on their investments in the shares of
enterprises affiliated to the financially troubled
China Rebar Group.
.
The Kuomintang (KMT) expelled Wang
Yan-teng, founder of the Rebar Group and his wife Wang
Chin Shih-ying from the party last week. Mrs. Wang is
Chair of the group whose affiliate Chinese bank went
under last Friday. Its depositors withdrew more than
NT$45 billion in a 3-day bank run.
.
The total productive value of Taiwan’s
optoelectronics industry recorded NT$1.27 trillion,
according to statistics released by Photonics
Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA).
. Singapore
is Asia’s second richest country after Japan with a GNP
per capita of about $27k, ranking between EU members
Italy and Spain. But in terms of disparity, it is in
altogether different company.
. Its Gini
Index, which measures inequality of income
distribution among households of 4/25 puts it between
Burundi and Kenya, UN Human Development 2006
shows.
. Singapore
pays no employment benefits, no pensions and has no
legal minimum wage, but education is cheap and
excellent, heath care is subsidized, and the government
gives subsidies to first-time buyers of government-built
flats.
.
The
Philippines’
Bureau of Customs (BoC) anti-corruption
program recently received a big boost when USAID signed
a $3.13 million funding agreement to support the
bureau’s campaign against smuggling.
.
Rizal Commercial Funding Corp (RCBC) welcomed the
entry of a new foreign partner, Spinnaker Capitol
Group, a US-based financial institution that
specializes in investments in emerging markets globally.
.
Remittances from OFWs (overseas foreign workers) in the
first 6 months of 2006 totaled $10.297 billion, up 16.6%
from $8.831 billion last year, the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas said in a report.
. The
Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing RP with a
$650-million soft loan to bolster economic growth
through programs aimed at restructuring the power
industry and developing a more efficient sector.
. RP would
need at least P50 billion ($1.01 billion) to
rehabilitate communities, rebuild infrastructure and
replace crops destroyed by the last four typhoons that
struck the country, said the Social Welfare and
Development Secretary.
.
Fishermen using
explosives in the ocean off
Sattahip,
Thailand
have changed
the underwater sites, leading to a drop in the number of
tourists diving in the area. The sunken World War II
warship HTHS Chuthatip in Sum San Bay is among the sites
damaged.
.
The US Embassy urged
safety seminar in the wake of bombings in Bangkok over
the New Year. The seminar focused on the threat of bombs
and involved both the government and the private sector.
The US Embassy paid all expenses in organizing the
seminar in order that those responsible can react fast
in the event of another similar occurrence.
.
Pattaya will hold the
3rd International Youth Camp on Jan.
16-25. The International Youth Fellowship (IYF) has been
held twice previously, once in Australia which was
attended by 1,200 young people and another in Hawaii,
attended by 2,200. Both events were huge successes, and
it’s anticipated that 3,000 youth will attend the
Thailand-hosted camp.
. Indonesia
has quietly become the world’s second-largest exporter
of coal used to generate electricity and could
potentially challenge Australia from the top spot this
year, analysts and industry officials say.
.
Rescue work was still
underway to evacuate bodies buried under tons of mud
after landslides swept through a remote village (Jorong
Kotabaru, Solok regency of West Sumatra), burying a
number of houses and a mosque, killing at least 19
people, the local media reported.
. One more
patient in
Persabahatan
Hospital died last week from the bird flu virus, one day
after the death of a 14-year old boy from the fatal
virus.
.
Donors pledged $4.4
billion to help
Vietnam’s
poverty reduction and economic growth programs in 2007
in another sign of support to the communist country from
the international community.
.
Japan is Vietnam’s largest single donor, pledging $890
million, up from $835 million. The EU put up a combined
$948 million, against $936 in 2006.
.
In Vietnam, Zippos were more than lighters; like
miniature versions of the crests of medieval knights,
they bore the mottos that defined what many soldiers
understood to be an absurd mission.
.
As the champion of the
landmark nuclear deal with
India
that GWB is reported to sign into law why only that
country will be allowed into the world’s nuclear club
while others are denied and a common reason you will
hear is this: unlike the others, India will be a
responsible nuclear citizen.
. The two
countries are poised to expand the range of their
counter-terrorism operations. In 2006, in two major
military deals unthinkable a few years ago, India bought
a used military naval vessel and six military
helicopters. Together they are worth $90 million.
.
There is a host of foreign policy issues they do not yet
see eye-to-eye, e.g. India’s closer ties to the military
junta in Myanmar, America’s military relationship with
Pakistan which irks India.
. Slamming
the West for its “environmentally wasteful lifestyle,”
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for
industrialized nations to look at alternative energy
sources to save the environment.
.
Over 40 million of India’s most impoverished and
marginalized people live in the country’s forests. A new
law will for the first time, enshrine their right to
live there, but conservationists are worried about
endangered wildlife.
. Bangladesh
has declared a state of emergency and imposed a daily
night-time curfew, state television said after weeks of
violence in the run-up elections boycotted by major
parties.
. The
ambassador of South Asia, based in Manila, gathered at
the Embassy of Bangladesh to celebrate the 21st
anniversary of the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) last December 8. The
Embassy of Bangladesh is the current SAARC Chair.
.
The king (Jigone Singye
Wangchuk), of the remote Himalayan country of
Bhutan,
has abdicated in favor of his Oxford-educated son
(Jigone Khosar Nangyal), a royal official said, stunning
the tiny Buddhist nation.
