IV. International
(12-15-07)
. Australia’s
Quantas Airlines has pleaded guilty to fixing
prices for international cargo shipments and agreed to
pay a $70 million fine. It is the third airline to admit
to price-fixing this year, after British Airways
and Korean Air Lines pleaded guilty in August.
.
Calls for profound change in the environmental behavior
of the US are on the rise as world leaders prepare to
attend a major summit on climate change in
Bali,
Indonesia
this month.
.
Student leaders who fled
Burma
after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising are raising money
to help boost a resistance movement that bid demands for
political rights and lower prices on commodities in the
country, said a member of Washington-based Refugee
International.
.
The worst fear about
what life in
Hong Kong
might be like under Chinese sovereignty – civil freedoms
curtailed and its capitalist system undermined – might
not have come to pass. The provisions enshrined in
Hong Kong’s
mini constitution, or Basic Law, have been largely
honored.
.
In the 5 years since Macao’s gaming industry was
liberalized, ending Stanley Ho’s 40-year monopoly over
the sector, gambling revenues have grown 155%, from $2.7
billion in 2002 to $6.9 billion last year, when Macao
eclipsed the Last Vegas strip as the gambling capital of
the world.
.
Negri Sembilan customs
seized 55,400 cartoons of cigarettes worth RM1.1 million
from a container at North
Port, Port Klang
in Malaysia.
. China
proudly unveiled images
of the moon taken by its lunar satellite, launched last
month, calling the achievement proof of the country’s
technological prowess (or theft of western countries’
secrets on space exploration and weapons design &
development) and ability to eventually land an astronaut
in the moon
.
China’s Pres. Hu Jintao
hopes to visit Japan early next year, a Japanese
official said, the first such visit by a Chinese head of
State in a decade and the strongest sign yet of a repair
in the often troubled relations between the two
neighbors.
. The number
of people arrested in China for “endangering state
security” more than doubled last year, showing that the
government is cracking down on the political crime of
dissent despite pressure to improve its human rights
records before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the San
Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said.
.
China has a quarter of a million people infected with
HIV, the official New China News Agency said, a
sharp drop in previously reported figures. The brief
dispatch did not give any more details.
. Taiwan
has become the second-largest exporter to China, taking
over from South Korea in September when it sold its
neighbor $11.3 billion of products.
Japan remains the
biggest exporter to China.
.
The government-funded
free flu inoculation program was open to all citizens
starting 12/1. Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) officials said. The CDC has procured 2.37 million
doses of flu vaccine for adults and 320k doses for
children aged below 3 years for this year’s free
inoculation program.
.
Acer Inc,
the world’s #4 PC vendor, has signed an agreement to
sponsor the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in
Vancouver and the
2012 Olympic Games in
London to boost brand
awareness in Europe and North America.
. Japan
canceled a tour for
visiting Chinese sailors of an advanced AEGIS-equipped
warship because of US
concern that
Beijing could gather confidential information, said the
Yomiuri Shimbun which said the Chinese naval crew
had been slated to visit Japan’s AEGIS-equipped
Kiaishima warship.
. Japan’s
recovery has been trundling along for more than 5 years,
by some measures making it the longest, if not exactly
most spectacular, period of continuous expansion since
the war. A recent Bank of Japan survey of
consumer sentiments finds the pessimists far outweigh
optimists on the general state of the economy.
.
Taisei and 57 other general contractors have been
banned by Japan’s Fair Trade Commission from
soliciting orders for 15 to 30 days as punishment for
rigging bids on defense-related construction and civil
engineering projects.
.
Japan hanged 3 men on
death row in Tokyo and publicly disclosed their names,
reversing the traditional policy of secrecy regarding
executions.
. South Korean
cellular operators use both CDMA (Code Division Multiple
Access) and WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) standards, thus the
use of the CDMA EVDO (Evolution Data Only) or WCDMA
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access).
.
The Seoul WiMax network
currently covers most of the city, including several
underground railway lines.
This makes it possible
to surf the Internet at speeds of several hundred
kilobits per second for a moving
vehicle or train. The
underground coverage extends to stations and subway
tunnels.
.
South Korea and North
Korea agreed to hold economic subcommittee meetings on
four key issues this
month:
agriculture, health & welfare, development of joint
shipbuilding, and issues relating to industrial
complex in NK border
city of
Gaeseng
.
Some 2.7 million of gallons of oil from a damage caused
by a 140k-ton HK-registered supertanker, after another
vessel slammed into it, has reached sensitive shoreline
on SK’s western coast, said the Coast Guard.
. Singapore’s
Ministry of Health (MOH) expects the total number
of reported HIV cases this year to exceed last year’s.
In the first 10 months, there were already 356 new HIV
cases reported, as compared to 357 new cases for the
entire 2006. Heterosexual transmission accounted for 67%
of infections, while homosexual transmission made up
24%.
.
Neste Oil, a refiner
from Finland, said it has decided to invest nearly S$1.2
billion to build the world’s largest bio-diesel plant in
Singapore. The plant will have a design capacity of 800k
tons a year.
.
Wide-ranging measures to liberalize the legal services
sector and boost Singapore as an international center
for legal services and education were announced last
week.
.
The recent disturbance
in the
Philippines
on 11/29 caused by the walkout of the 2 defendants (Sen.
Antonio V. Trillianes IV, Brig Gen Danilo Lim et al.)
was more like a comedy of errors. The mention of Joseph
Estrada as the legitimate president raised questions
regarding the money-man behind another failed coup. The
mutineers proved again to be not only big talkers
but also loud-mouthed cowards.
.
This was the shortest coup in the history of world
coups, lasting no more than half a day. For many in
Metro Manila it was more like a martial side-show akin
to a military parade on Armed Forces Day that ended as
an embarrassment and succeeding only in driving away
foreign investors. It was poorly planned and executed by
its leaders who will go down in history as the cowboys
who were more like cowgirls/girlie men.
. The Senate
has passed on third & final reading other bills
providing for R10 billion compensation to some 10,000
victims of human rights violations during martial law,
Senate president Manny Villar said.
. Vietnam’s
garment exports rose 30% to $7.1 billion in the first 11
months of 2007, officials said as the country’s entry
into the WTO outweighed fears of possible restrictions
in the US market.
.
A court in Hanoi has
sentenced 11 people to death and 7 others to life
imprisonment in drug trafficking involving more than 437
kilograms of heroin between 2002 and March 2006,
according to court documents. Trafficking 600 grams or
more of heroin is punishable by death: 83 people
have been put to death this year, 52 of them met their
end from drug crimes.
. Vietnam
will continue to simplify administrative procedures to
facilitate business for small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs).
.
Over the past 3 years,
India’s
GNP has expanded by
more than 8%, making it the 2nd fastest
growing economy in the world. Between April to Sept
2006, growth accelerated 9.1% and the country’s Planning
Commission believes this rate can be sustained during
the 5 years (2007-2012).
.
The cash-rich states of
UAE are sinking billions of dollars into India’s real
estate sector through joint ventures with local
companies as sovereign wealth funds and Middle East
investment groups increasingly target India.
.
Tata Steel
has bought a stake in a cooking coal mining project in
Mozambique as part of an emerging overseas “coal rush”
by India’s steel & power companies keen to secure scarce
raw materials.
.
Indian legislators have scrapped a law that has held
back development in the financial capital of Mumbai,
boosting shares of developers, construction companies
and land-rich groups.
.
Nawaz Sharif is bad news
for Pakistan. In
1991, he announced Sharia Law as the law of the
land, before being forced out into retreat by the
judiciary. He reportedly met with Osama bin Laden in
Saudi Arabia to ask for support in stopping Benazir
Bhutto from winning her first term as P.M. A woman’s
ascent to power was anathema to OBL and the Afghan
Muhajeedin as well as Sharif’s key Islamist partners in
Pakistan.
.
US senior officials worry about former PM Sharif’s
potential rule in any Pakistani government which could
undermine efforts to a hunt down al Quaeda and Taliban
militants as well as hinder broader initiatives.
. Pakistan’s
President Pervez Musharraf’s move to step down as Army
chief is welcomed in western capitals as an important
first step in his nation’s return to democratic rule.
.
A bomb exploded (11/28)
near the entrance to a popular department store in a
busy Colombo suburb in Sri Lanka, killing
at least 17 people and rounding dozens in a rare attack
on civilians, the military said.
.
Mobitel Lanka has invested US$200 million to
introduce the latest version of 3G technology to Sri
Lanka offering the “fastest” mobile Internet access.
.
More than 300 representatives of the private & public
sectors discussed strategies to improve the dairy
industry in Sri Lanka so it can reduce dependence on
imported milk powder and encourage economic development
in the conflict-affected East. USAID will launch
a new project next year “Connecting Regional
Economies” to improve
the rural value claims in Eastern and North Central
Provinces.
