In Tuesday's Asia Papers

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

ASAHI SHIMBUN, Japan

Front page

 

Megabank's new system flops

A glitch in the new computer system at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ blocked about 20,000 ATM transactions on Monday

 

Upper House nixes bill on road taxes

The opposition-controlled Upper House on Monday voted down proposed legislation designed to maintain road tax revenues exclusively for road construction for another decade.

 

Business & Industry

 

No new updates.

 

CHINA DAILY, China

Front page

 

About 10,000 people dead in killer earthquake

The deadly earthquake that rocked Southwestern China and felt all across China and beyond, had left nearly 10,000 people dead by midnight Monday, and the death toll is expected to climb as rescue efforts are intensifying.

 

Business & Industry

 

No new updates.

 

TAIPEI TIMES, Taiwan

Front page

 

7.8-magnitude quake rocks China

A massive earthquake in central China yesterday killed at least 7,000 people in Sichuan Province, with the overall death toll expected to increase sharply.

 

Serbian rivals begin coalition talks

Serbia’s rival pro-Western and nationalist camps each positioned themselves to begin talks on forming a new government yesterday after parliamentary elections left the Balkan nation sharply divided.

 

Business & Industry

 

Mitsubishi may invest in Yuanta

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc’s brokerage unit may invest in Taiwan’s Yuanta Financial Holding Co and South Korea’s Daewoo Securities Co as part of a push to double overseas revenue, the head of the division said.

 

Polaris denies it bought shares at too high a price

Polaris Securities Co Taiwan’s largest online brokerage whose chairman, Wayne Pai was questioned by prosecutors last night and released on bail, denied buying shares of its asset-management unit at “too high” a price in 2004.

 

KOREA HERALD, South Korea

Front page

 

Parties poised to collide over beef at FTA hearing

The debate over U.S. beef imports is expected to take center stage at a National Assembly hearing scheduled for today. At the hearing, lawmakers will discuss the ratification of the free trade agreement with the United States.

 

Dual citizenship plan disputed

The government's recent proposal to permit dual citizenship has sparked a dispute over fairness and legality

 

Business & Industry

 

Beef demand steady, prices forecast to drop

Beef prices are declining and consumer demand is so far steady, industry experts said, amid the public outcry against Korea's decision to resume imports of all U.S. beef cuts and lingering questions over its risk of harboring mad cow disease

 

Bird flu scare hits poultry businesses

The nation's chicken soup restaurants have their heyday during summer, when there is a high demand among those who want to overcome heat.

 

NEW STRAITS TIMES, Malaysia

Front page

 

Thai sellers want us to pay more

The Malaysian government and Thai rice exporters are deadlocked over the "price tag" for new purchases, with the world's biggest rice exporter insisting on the current market level of about US$1,000 (RM3,197) a tonne.

 

Move to cost govt RM719m a year

Malaysia's move to raise the retirement age of civil servants will cost the government about RM719 million a year starting from next year, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.

 

Business & Industry

 

Foreign parties keen on halal hub

FOREIGN investors have promised to pour in RM1.4 billion to help develop the Tanjung Manis halal hub in Sarawak

 

Launch of RM3b structured fund

THE RM3 billion PNB Structured Investment Fund, launched yesterday to invest in structured products and a property trust that owns Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) buildings, may generate returns of more than six to seven per cent a year, its manager said

 

BUSINESS TIMES, Singapore

Front page

 

Wachovia says cutting fixed-income jobs

Wachovia Chief Executive Kennedy Lewis on Monday told investors his hard-hit United States regional bank was cutting back corporate and investment bank jobs to reduce costs amid the ongoing market slump.

 

Top audit firms set to march on the LLP route

After mulling over the pros and cons in recent years, three of the Big Four audit firms in Singapore have decided to convert to limited liability partnerships (LLPs), with at least one of them expected to effect the restructuring quite soon.

 

Business & Industry

 

Wing Tai Q3 net profit drops 49% to $27.7m

Property group Wing Tai Holdings yesterday posted a 49 per cent year-on-year drop in third-quarter net earnings to $27.7 million on a 63 per cent slide in revenue to $109.99 million. For the nine months ended March 31, 2008, net profit fell 4 per cent to $133.1 million, while revenue roughly halved to $320.8 million from $732.6 million from the year before.

 

India's factory output up at slowest pace since '02

India's industrial production grew at the slowest pace since 2002 as borrowing costs at a six-year high discouraged consumers from buying cars, motorcycles and other goods.

 

BANGKOK POST, Thailand

Front page

 

Heroes in the smoke

Thai tennis twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana became off-court champions when they saved the wife and child of an Argentine player, Lucas Arnold, from a fire in their hotel yesterday.

 

Major China quake

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake felt as far away as Bangkok killed more than 700 people and buried thousands in Sichuan province of southwest China. Authorities said they feared 5,000 or more were dead. and Chinese President Hu Jintao ordered "all-out" efforts to help 900 school children buried in rubble.

 

Business & Industry

 

Government stable and coup unlikely

Economic uncertainties and oil prices are a greater concern than politics, according to Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee. ''I don't believe there will be another coup. The public would not support it,'' he told members of the Securities Analysts Association yesterday.

 

JAKARTA POST, Indonesia

Front page

 

Oil hits new record above $126, then falls on stronger dollar

Oil prices briefly spiked to a new record above $126 a barrel Monday but later wobbled with some investors buying on worries of falling supply and others selling in response to a stronger dollar.

 

Bush says world should condemn Myanmar

President Bush said Monday that an angry world should condemn the way Myanmar's military rulers are handling the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. "Here they are with a major catastrophe on their hands, and (they) do not allow there to be the full kind of might of a compassionate world to help them," Bush said.

 

Business & Industry

 

No new updates.

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Author: Staff Reporter
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