The ASX’s two-strikes rule: If 25 per cent of shareholders reject two consecutive remuneration reports, the board can be dumped if 50 per cent of votes support the motion

Shareholders gagged by ASX rules

May 19, 2014

John Addis

Change needed: The ASX should require a vote on ‘company transforming’ initiatives, says John Addis. Photo: Bloomberg

Exhorting shareholders to think like owners of a business is one of the great tenets of value investing. And, by and large, it’s a good rule of thumb. The problems start when management, which should represent owners’ interests, go native. Read more of this post

Barbarians gather at the gate as foreign investors eye Penfolds, the mighty Australian whose flagship red is known simply as ”Grange”

Barbarians gather at the gate as foreign investors eye Penfolds

May 24, 2014

Eli Greenblat

With a takeover battle looming at Treasury Wine, Eli Greenblat looks at what structure is best suited to owning wine assets.

Read more of this post

Tipping Points to Asia’s Future

YURIKO KOIKE

Yuriko Koike, Japan’s former defense minister and national security adviser, was Chairwoman of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s General Council and currently is a member of the National Diet.

MAY 23, 2014

Tipping Points to Asia’s Future

TOKYO – A week, it is said, is a long time in politics. But events in Asia over the past week may define the region for decades to come. Read more of this post

Bunny boilers: Sichuan devours 42m kilos of rabbit a year

Bunny boilers: Sichuan devours 42m kilos of rabbit a year

Staff Reporter

2014-05-22

People in Sichuan have a penchant for rabbit meat, consuming 42 million kilograms a year, or an average of two rabbits a person, according to the WCC Daily. Read more of this post

Was Thai Army chief’s meeting with political bigwigs cover for a coup?

Was Thai Army chief’s meeting with political bigwigs cover for a coup?

AP

MAY 24, 2014

BANGKOK – Thailand’s all-powerful army chief started the extraordinary meeting by asking participants to give a progress report on their “homework.” Read more of this post

Suneeta Reddy: Linking the Health and Wealth of a Country

Suneeta Reddy: Linking the Health and Wealth of a Country

by Suneeta Reddy | May 23, 2014

India waits for concrete policy measures to create a health care system rooted in affordability, quality and accessibility Read more of this post

India’s Recent Election Gives It The Best Chance Of Prosperity Ever

India’s Recent Election Gives It The Best Chance Of Prosperity Ever

THE ECONOMIST POLITICS  MAY. 24, 2014, 2:29 AM

The most important change in the world over the past 30 years has been the rise of China. The increase in its average annual GDP per head from around $300 to $6,750 over the period has not just brought previously unimagined prosperity to hundreds of millions of people, but has also remade the world economy and geopolitics. Read more of this post

Thai military makes paying rice farmers a priority

Thai military makes paying rice farmers a priority

Saturday, May 24, 2014 – 17:04

Reuters

BANGKOK – Thailand’s military junta and the finance ministry will meet on Monday to discuss how to pay rice farmers over US$2.5 billion (S$3.13 billion) owed under a failed subsidy scheme run by the government the military overthrew on Thursday. Read more of this post

cDonald’s Indigestible Excuse for Low Pay

McDonald’s Indigestible Excuse for Low Pay

By TERESA TRITCH

MAY 23, 2014 5:30 PM

When Henry Ford realized it was good business to pay employees enough to buy the products they built, it was a breakthrough, not only because the idea challenged the reflex to pay as little as possible, but because the product was a car. He was talking real bucks. Read more of this post

Fat-Cat Administrators at the Top 25; Higher executive pay at public universities pairs with raised tuition, fewer course offerings and an increase in miserably paid adjuncts

Fat-Cat Administrators at the Top 25

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMAY 23, 2014

Confronted with punishing state budget cuts, the public colleges and universities that educate more than 70 percent of this country’s students have raised tuition, shrunk course offerings and hired miserably paid, part-time instructors who now form what amounts to a new underclass in the academic hierarchy. At the same time, some of those colleges and universities are spending much too freely on their top administrators. Read more of this post

Silver Too Small to See, but Everywhere You Look; Silver nanoparticles are turning up in a variety of consumer products, and some scientists worry over the environmental and health consequences

Silver Too Small to See, but Everywhere You Look

By DEBORAH BLUM

MAY 23, 2014 2:41 PM 6 Comments

Several years ago, a mosquito bite on Elizabeth Loboa’s right leg became infected, turning into an oozing sore that refused to heal. Her doctor prescribed a stiff course of antibiotics. But Dr. Loboa decided to try another remedy. Read more of this post

Never Mind Stocks. Just Buy the Company.

Never Mind Stocks. Just Buy the Company.

MAY 23, 2014

By PAUL SULLIVAN

AFTER years of litigation against the side of his family that controlled his grandfather’s coffee business, Steven D. Crowe woke up on New Year’s Day 2004 with a lot of money in the bank — $111 million, according to reports at the time. Having developed and managed real estate for decades, he said he knew little about the stock market, so he invested the money broadly for his mother and sister and his own family. Read more of this post

What happened to the idea of the Great Society?

May 22, 2014 5:15 pm

What happened to the idea of the Great Society?

By John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Johnson’s noble vision had compelling objectives, say John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson unveiled his vision of the “Great Society”. This would be one in which no child would go unfed and no youngster unschooled; a society in which the ancient evils of racism and injustice would be combated; a society, above all, in which the state would deliver justice and opportunity. Read more of this post

How Pfizer snatched defeat from victory

May 23, 2014 7:39 pm

How Pfizer snatched defeat from victory

By Andrew Ward

It was a warm and sunny spring day in the craggy archipelago that guards the entrance to Gothenburg harbour but when Leif Johansson woke up at his island home on Saturday, April 26 with the weekend ahead of him, any hopes of relaxation were extinguished by an email waiting in his inbox. Read more of this post

HSBC shareholders revolt on pay; More than a fifth of shareholders’ votes were cast against HSBC’s three-year pay policy in the latest sign of investor unrest during a stormy season of annual meetings

May 23, 2014 4:52 pm

HSBC shareholders revolt on pay

By Sharlene Goff, Retail Banking Correspondent

More than a fifth of shareholders’ votes were cast against HSBC’s three-year pay policy in the latest sign of investor unrest during a stormy season of annual meetings. Read more of this post

Checking out of the ETF hotel could be costly; Worry is that market-making dance may come to abrupt halt

Last updated: May 23, 2014 3:54 pm

Checking out of the ETF hotel could be costly

By Tracy Alloway in New YorkAuthor alerts

Worry is that market-making dance may come to abrupt halt

Hotel California by the Eagles is one of the best known soft rock songs from the seventies. But its lyrics – about a seemingly welcoming guesthouse revealed as a ghostly limbo – offer a partial analogy for an important part of modern financial markets: exchange traded funds. Read more of this post

China cannot follow America’s route to world leadership; US assumed world leadership because of unique historical circumstances

May 23, 2014 6:33 pm

China cannot follow America’s route to world leadership

By Adam Tooze

US assumed world leadership because of unique historical circumstances, says Adam Tooze

The US is, by some measures, about to cede to China its place as the largest economy. Some say that an era of Chinese world leadership cannot be far behind. But cast an eye over the history of America’s own rise, and one thing is clear: power did not come from economic might alone. Read more of this post

Uber to Offer Jakarta Commuters a Ride

Uber to Offer Jakarta Commuters a Ride

By Dion Bisara on 07:27 pm May 23, 2014

Leipzig. Uber, a transportation network company, is putting the final touches on its plans to start operation in Jakarta, as part of its expansion in Southeast Asia region. Read more of this post

Cautious Words From Asia’s Davos; Aquino is constitutionally barred from running again in 2016

Cautious Words From Asia’s Davos

By William Pesek on 07:52 pm May 23, 2014

There was a fascinating moment at the Philippines’s coming-out party this week: Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima compared notes with one of his best-known predecessors, Jose Camacho, who held the job from 2001 to 2003. Read more of this post

Yes, rates will rise. Do control yourselves

Yes, rates will rise. Do control yourselves

David Keohane Author alerts

| May 23 09:45 | 4 comments | Share

From a tame taper to a rate rage? And on its birthday too.

As Alan Beattie says, it was a year ago this week that the “taper tantrum” shook emerging markets, after comments from Ben Bernanke raised fears of the Fed tightening monetary policy. That sucked for EMs even if the reaction to the actual taper, which began in December, was much more chilled. Read more of this post

Thailand’s medical tourism crown at risk

Medical tourism crown at risk

Reuters May 24, 2014 1:00 am

Thai coup sparks new travel warnings by some countries; medical tourists look to S Korea, RP

Thailand is in danger of losing its crown as the world’s top destination for medical tourism if foreigners looking for low-cost, quality healthcare are scared off by political unrest, especially at a time of growing competition from Asian rivals. Read more of this post

Indonesian military’s role in economy ‘set to be phased out’; The role of the powerful Indonesian military (TNI) in the country’s economy has shrunk by 80 per cent since reforms were taken to unshackle its grip

Indonesian military’s role in economy ‘set to be phased out’

Li Xueying, The Straits Times/ANN, Manila | Business | Fri, May 23 2014, 5:36 PM

The role of the powerful Indonesian military (TNI) in the country’s economy has shrunk by 80 per cent since reforms were taken to unshackle its grip – and expectations are that it will be phased out eventually, Indonesian Finance Minister Muhamad Chatib Basri said at the World Economic Forum yesterday. Read more of this post

“Government spending is the problem. The private side of the Thai economy is operating as normal”; Thailand’s political turmoil has caused a backlog of 200 foreign investment projects worth $12.3bn awaiting government approval

Updated: Friday May 23, 2014 MYT 11:51:44 AM

Turmoil hits Thai projects

NEW YORK: Thailand’s political turmoil over the last six months has caused a backlog of roughly 200 foreign investment projects awaiting government approval, the equivalent of about US$12.3bil, according to a senior government official. Read more of this post

Business as usual for wealthy Thais after ‘inevitable’ coup

Updated: Saturday May 24, 2014 MYT 6:57:27 AM

Business as usual for wealthy Thais after ‘inevitable’ coup

SINGAPORE/BANGKOK: Many of the wealthy Thais who come to investment manager Charles Blocker have a question for the generals who seized control of the country in a military coup this week: What took you so long? Read more of this post

Malaysian property buyers may be affected by rate hike

Updated: Saturday May 24, 2014 MYT 11:30:21 AM

Property buyers may be affected by rate hike

BY THEAN LEE CHENG

LIM Lian Hong, executive director of Raine & Horne International, defines “living dangerously” as when one overcommits and finds oneself in the red once too often. It also means not being able to meet a financial emergency. Read more of this post

Dr M in the hot seat as Proton chairman

Updated: Saturday May 24, 2014 MYT 7:38:49 AM

Dr M in the hot seat

BY EUGENE MAHALINGAM

IN what would seem like a serious attempt to help turn the company around, national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd appointed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its chairman earlier this week. Read more of this post