In Thursday's Asia Papers

08 May 2008 02:00  [Source: ICIS news]

ASAHI SHIMBUN, Japan

Front page

 

Gates stresses Microsoft's independent approach after breakdown of buyout talks for Yahoo

Microsoft Corp. plans to take an independent path to strengthen its online services, Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday in Tokyo, just days after his company walked out of talks to buy out Yahoo Inc.

                                         

Fukuda, Hu promote 'strategic' interests

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a joint statement Wednesday on promoting a mutually beneficial strategic relationship without referring to "apologies" or "reflection" over Japan's wartime actions in China

 

Business & Industry

 

SESC policing Net to halt illegal deals

Online stock trading, far from being an activity that is under the shroud of cyberspace anonymity, is actually checked for illegal transactions by the minute, according to sources.

 

CHINA DAILY, China

Front page

 

Medvedev to continue strategic partnership with China

With Dmitry Medvedev sworn in as Russia's president on Wednesday, all eyes will be on how the 42-year-old leads the Kremlin. But what is likely to remain is his predecessor Vladimir Putin's grand foreign policy strategy in the next four years, including Moscow's stance toward China, Chinese analysts have said

 

1m left homeless as aid trickles in

Hungry crowds of survivors stormed a few shops that opened on Wednesday in Myanmar's devastated Irrawaddy delta, the UN said, with little aid reaching the area since a weekend cyclone killed 22,980 people.

 

Business & Industry

 

No new updates.

 

TAIPEI TIMES, Taiwan

Front page

 

Aid groups fume as junta stalls

Frustrated aid agencies said yesterday they were still being denied permission to enter Myanmar and help desperate survivors of a weekend cyclone that has left millions homeless and without food and water.

 

Medvedev takes oath as president

Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russian president yesterday in a glittering Kremlin ceremony and immediately nominated his predecessor Vladimir Putin as prime minister, launching an uncertain era of joint rule.

 

Business & Industry

 

Taishin posts sharp fall in net income

Taishin Financial Holdings Co yesterday reported a net profit of NT$453 million (US$14.84 million), or NT$0.22 per share, in the first quarter. This represented a 75 percent year-on-year decline, but a significant improvement from losses of NT$1.4 billion in the previous quarter.

 

April exports rise at a slower pace

The nation's exports posted double-digit growth again last month, with outbound shipments rising 14 percent year-on-year to US$22.59 billion. However, the growth rate was slower compared with March's year-on-year growth of 22.8 percent, statistics released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday.

 

KOREA HERALD, South Korea

Front page

 

Lee puts public health before beef

Seoul officials yesterday pledged to suspend imports of American beef if mad cow disease breaks out in the United States, even if such a move means risking a trade dispute with Washington

 

Level of exposure to BSE agent 'key to contracting disease'

An official from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told The Korea Herald that Koreans may be genetically more susceptible to the human form of mad cow disease.

 

Business & Industry

 

Hyundai breaks ground on Gunsan yard

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. yesterday broke ground on a new shipbuilding yard in Gunsan, a southwestern port city, as it plans to expand its capacity to meet rising demand.

 

KEB most productive among major banks in first quarter

Korea Exchange Bank topped productivity among the major six local commercial banks in the first quarter, industry data showed yesterday.

 

NEW STRAITS TIMES, Malaysia

Front page

 

Dewan Rakyat: Highway concession, tolls to be reviewed

Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed said a toll review mechanism to gauge traffic volume and toll collected at the 22 highways nationwide could result in lower toll and re-negotiations of the agreements.

 

Jamry episode takes another twist

Datuk Jamry Sury officially resumed his duties as the state Religious Department director after clocking-in at 7.30am at Kompleks Islam here yesterday. It is believed that he had finally received his "appointment" letter signed by State Secretary Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hashim a day earlier.

 

Business & Industry

 

World's biggest retakaful group set up

KHAZANAH Nasional Bhd, together with the United Arab Emirates' Dubai Banking Group and Singapore's Asia Capital Reinsurance (ACR), has jointly set up the world's largest retakaful group with a capital base of US$300 million (RM945 million).

 

Global Islamic insurance business eyed

MALAYAN Banking Bhd (Maybank) will work with a unit of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to create a global leader in Islamic insurance, or takaful.

 

BUSINESS TIMES, Singapore

Front page

 

Japan, China make progress on gas feud

Japan and China announced progress towards settling a feud over gas in the East China Sea in a sign of warming ties between the big Asian rivals, and agreed at a summit yesterday that cooperation was their 'only option'.

 

Raffles Hotel may change hands again

Raffles Hotel is believed to be changing hands again, along with its adjoining shopping arcade. The overseas buyer is understood to be a family trust, most likely linked to a European family.

 

Business & Industry

 

Fed looking to pay interest on bank reserves this year

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, seeking ways to stabilise money markets, will ask Congress for authority to pay interest on commercial-bank reserves this year, a person familiar with the discussions said

 

India govt pressing allies on financial reforms

India's government will try to win agreement from coalition allies to ease restrictions on foreign investments in insurance, banking and pensions in its final year in office, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

 

BANGKOK POST, Thailand

Front page

 

Left in the lurch

Day Six of the cyclone disaster: The junta still has not even responded to a request that it waive visa requirements for relief agencies. The senior US diplomat in Burma and the exile government in Thailand said separately the death toll is likely 100,000, and the first hungry crowds of survivors stormed village shops, desperate for food.

 

Hillary to junta

Senator Hillary Clinton called on the regime in Burma to allow international aid workers into the country to help the relief effort following a cyclone that killed thousands of people

 

Business & Industry

 

PTTEP speeds up LNG plans

PTT Exploration and Production will join with its parent, PTT Plc, to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant that will use supplies from its existing natural gas fields. The move comes as PTT has faced problems in securing long-term LNG supplies due to market volatility. PTT's 30-billion-baht LNG receiving terminal at Map Ta Phut is expected to be operational at the end of 2011 with an annual capacity of five million tones

 

SEC cracking down on ads

The Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered local asset management companies to refrain from advertising or promoting funds using performance awards granted by organisations other than the Association for Investment Management Companies. The directive, signed in March, effectively orders local fund managers to restrict promotions of their fund performance only to awards ''approved'' by the AIMC, the industry body representing local asset managers

 

JAKARTA POST, Indonesia

Front page

 

High tides force hundreds to evacuate

At least 150 families were forced from their homes Wednesday when high tides hit Cemara village in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

 

KPK searches ex-BI governor's house

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) searched on Wednesday the house of former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Soedradjad Djiwandono, who has been accused of involvement in a graft scandal.

 

Business & Industry

 

No new updates.

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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