Dick Smith – the entrepreneur who launched a crusade against the foreign ownership of Australian food processors in the late 1990s – says his company’s ”days are numbered”.

Dick Smith says company’s ‘days are numbered’ as local suppliers disappear

May 23, 2014 – 4:44PM

Jared Lynch

Dick Smith with a pallet load of his Australian grown sliced beetroot. Photo: Ben Rushton

Another iconic brand sold: Peters Ice Cream set to be sold to French company

The pool of Australian food producers is shrinking so fast that it is becoming difficult for patriotic players like Dick Smith to stay in business. Read more of this post

Indian e-retailers are so scared of Amazon that they’re all joining forces

Indian e-retailers are so scared of Amazon that they’re all joining forces

By Shruti Chakraborty May 22, 2014

The race to the bottom is on.

India’s biggest players in e-commerce have seen a flurry of activity this week in their efforts to play defense to Amazon’s overtures on their home turf. Amazon has been scaling up its India operations, such as next-day delivery and a slew of TV ads. Read more of this post

Hong Kong court rejects EY’s case that China law protects mainland audit papers

Hong Kong court rejects EY’s case that China law protects mainland audit papers

3:30am EDT

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong court on Friday rejected auditor EY’s contention that Chinese law prohibits the mainland partner of the firm previously known as Ernst & Young from passing on documents related to a former China client. Read more of this post

How to avoid cultural mistakes in Korea

Updated : 2014-05-22 17:48

How to avoid cultural mistakes in Korea

Joel Lee
A post titled “20 Cultural Mistakes to Avoid in Korea” on culture andtravel website Seoulistic. com has generated much chatter for itssarcastic take on aspects of Korean cultural behavior that foreignersregard as odd.  Read more of this post

The Korean financial watchdog to phase out financial holding companies amid a recent conflict between KB Financial Group and Kookmin Bank

Updated: 2014-05-22 19:09

FSC to phase out holding firms

By Chung Ah-young

The financial watchdog will strengthen restrictions on the authority offinancial holding companies amid a recent conflict between KB Financial Group and Kookmin Bank.  Read more of this post

Hyundai heir focuses on emerging markets

Updated : 2014-05-22 20:47

Hyundai heir focuses on emerging markets

Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun is apparently seeking to find new momentum in emerging markets in Asia and South America where demand for cars is growing fast. Read more of this post

Indonesian Govt Urged to Stick to ‘Asean Way’ Despite Thai Military Coup

Indonesian Govt Urged to Stick to ‘Asean Way’ Despite Thai Military Coup

By Erwida Maulia & Dessy Sagita on 09:25 pm May 22, 2014

1.  Foreign affairs experts said Indonesia should stay out of Thailand’s domestic affairs despite the escalating situation in the country after that country’s military’s announcement on Thursday that it was taking power in a coup d’etat.

Read more of this post

Singapore Braces for Worsening “Haze” as Indonesia Fails to Halt Slash-and-Burn Clearances

Singapore Braces for Worsening “Haze” as Indonesia Fails to Halt Slash-and-Burn Clearances

By Rujun Shen on 03:43 pm May 22, 2014

1.  The Lion City is approaching its yearly “haze” season, when smoke from forest clearing in Indonesia chokes the air, with this year likely to be worse than 2013′s record pollution thanks to lack of action in Jakarta and an expected El Nino weather pattern.

Read more of this post

Panasonic is considering bringing some of its manufacturing back to Japan, in what would be a rare reversal of Japanese companies offshoring production to China and other Asian countries with lower production costs

Last updated: May 22, 2014 4:27 pm

Panasonic considers bringing production back to Japan

By Jennifer Thompson and Jonathan Soble in Tokyo

Panasonic is considering bringing some of its manufacturing back to Japan, in what would be a rare reversal of Japanese companies offshoring production to China and other Asian countries with lower production costs. Read more of this post

Japan’s trading houses shift focus; The recent tumble in the price of iron ore, a vital steelmaking ingredient, has probably been worrying for Japan’s leading trading houses, the sogo shosha

May 22, 2014 8:16 am

Japan’s trading houses shift focus

By Emiko Terazono

Resources will take a smaller piece of the new investment pie

The recent tumble in the price of iron ore, a vital steelmaking ingredient, has probably been worrying for Japan’s leading trading houses, the sogo shosha. Read more of this post

The macroprudential model back on the financial catwalk; Policy ideas that seem terribly old fashioned to one generation have a habit of being reborn

May 22, 2014 6:08 pm

The macroprudential model back on the financial catwalk

By Gillian Tett

Policy ideas that seem terribly old fashioned to one generation have a habit of being reborn Read more of this post

British companies that bribe foreign officials to win contracts, commit fraud, or launder money, face fines of up to 400 per cent of their illicit profits, under new penalty guidelines

May 22, 2014 11:57 pm

Corrupt companies face fines of 400% of illicit profits

By Caroline Binham, Legal Correspondent

British companies that bribe foreign officials to win contracts, commit fraud, or launder money, face fines of up to 400 per cent of their illicit profits, under new penalty guidelines. Read more of this post

The perils of Asia’s nationalist power game; Modi completes a quartet of combative leaders in the most powerful nations of the region

May 22, 2014 7:12 pm

The perils of Asia’s nationalist power game

By Philip Stephens

Modi completes a quartet of combative leaders in the most powerful nations of the region

India has a new prime minister; and each of Asia’s four most powerful nations is now led by a combative nationalist. The multilateralist assumptions of the postwar order are giving way to a return to great power competition. Nationalism is on the march, and nowhere more so than in the rising east. Read more of this post

When Not Even The “1%” Can Afford College

When Not Even The “1%” Can Afford College

Tyler Durden on 05/12/2014 15:51 -0400
Since in America one now needs a Bachelor’s degree (if not a PhD in economics, of course) to get a job as a waiter, according to the following chart the US may soon have a severe waiter shortage considering the cost of college tuition has outpaced even the income of the 1%. As for everyone else, forget it – want that French Polynesian belly-dancing major? Prepare to become a debt slave for life. Read more of this post

How China Is Eclipsing Japan in Asia

May 13, 2014

How China Is Eclipsing Japan in Asia

China’s latest tangle with Vietnam plays into Japan’s bid to ramp up influence in Asia, as Tokyo offers leadership to counter Beijing’s saber-rattling. (Here, here and here.) Read more of this post

Taxing times for pachinko as Japan considers casino gamble

Taxing times for pachinko as Japan considers casino gamble

10:43am IST

By Farah Master and Nathan Layne

OSAKA/TOKYO (Reuters) – Moves towards legalising casinos in Japan have reignited a debate over the legal status of pachinko, with a potential new tax mooted for a $200 billion gaming industry that has existed for decades on the fringes of the law. Read more of this post

Beijing plans new $14 billion airport to ease congestion at its overcrowded air travel gateway, already the world’s second-busiest

Beijing Plans to Spend $14 Billion on Second Airport

New Airport Expected to Open in 2018

JOANNE CHIU

May 13, 2014 8:17 a.m. ET

HONG KONG—Beijing plans to spend around US$14 billion to build a new airport in the outskirts of the nation’s capital to relieve congestion at its overcrowded air travel gateway, already the world’s second-busiest. Read more of this post

China demand for luxury furniture ‘decimating rosewood’

China demand for luxury furniture ‘decimating rosewood’

Monday, May 12, 2014 – 21:06

AFP

BANGKOK – Runaway Chinese demand for luxury furniture is spurring illegal logging across Southeast Asia, stripping the region of precious Siamese rosewood and driving a chain of cross-border corruption and violence, environmentalists said Monday. Read more of this post

Special report: The power struggle behind China’s corruption crackdown

Special report: The power struggle behind China’s corruption crackdown

8:46pm EDT

By Benjamin Kang Lim, David Lague and Charlie Zhu

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Liu Han seemed to thrive in the company of officials.

Even a birthday party in 2011 for Liu’s primary-school aged son drew a crowd of bureaucrats in Chengdu, the capital of China’s western Sichuan province where the flamboyant mining tycoon was based. “There was a mayor of a nearby city with a population of three or four million,” recalls Australian political lobbyist John Halden who helped win approval for Liu’s mining investments in Western Australia and was invited to the October 15 celebration. “There were senior people from the provincial treasury and about seven or eight officials from the city of Chengdu.” Read more of this post

China’s Rising ‘Working Class Insurrection’ Problem

China’s Rising ‘Working Class Insurrection’ Problem

Tyler Durden on 05/22/2014 20:27 -0400

Last week we highlighted the stunning images of China’s “fists and daggers” police force training for a “working class insurrection.” It appears to be good timing, given last night’s terrible blasts in Urumqi. The chart below shows the worrying escalation in social unrest in China – at a time when the leadership is pushing a “strike first” anti-terrorist policy that appears to be failing badly. The “serious violent terrorist incident” that occurred last night in Urumqi, killing 31 and injuring 94, was the worst in years and prompted domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu to vow to strengthen a crackdown on the “arrogance of terrorists,” but, as one analyst warns tightening controls on the Uighur region may be “smacking them in the face.” Read more of this post

“Our Industry Is Absolutely Crazy”: The Subprime Wolf Of Wall Street In 125% Interest Clothing

“Our Industry Is Absolutely Crazy”: The Subprime Wolf Of Wall Street In 125% Interest Clothing

Tyler Durden on 05/22/2014 18:07 -0400

The last time we wrote about the number 125% it was in the context of the return of that old Subprime 1.0 staple home loans that cover more than the purchase price of the home (because one must always have some leftover cash for improvements), i.e. 125% loan-to-value mortgages. Today 125% comes back and again it is in the context of subprime, only this time it is about the second coming of the credit bubble when, as Bloomberg writes, a certain group of distinguished individuals is now offering loans to troubled Americans at the whopping annual interest rate of 125%. Read more of this post

Follow the Money, China-Style: The economy’s mystery of surplus currency yet low inflation may be a result of the piles of cash hoarded by corrupt officials

Follow the Money, China-Style

MAY 11, 2014

Yu Hua

BEIJING — Since China introduced a floating exchange rate on July 21, 2005, the Chinese yuan has consistently risen in value against the United States dollar, from a low of 8.28 yuan to the dollar in July 2005 to a high of 6.06 in January of this year. But the appreciation of the yuan has failed to convince ordinary Chinese people that their money buys more; on the contrary, they feel it’s worth less. Read more of this post

From black to green: U.S. billionaire Tom Steyer’s ‘Road to Damascus’

From black to green: U.S. billionaire’s ‘Road to Damascus’

7:10am EDT

By Richard Valdmanis, Fergus Jensen andSonali Paul

BOSTON/JAKARTA/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Billionaire Tom Steyer has rapidly become one of America’s most visible environmental advocates, vowing to punish lawmakers who don’t oppose climate change and pledging to spend up to $100 million to put the issue center stage in the November 4 elections. Read more of this post

Pressure builds on Thai Senate as crisis drags on

Pressure builds on Thai Senate as crisis drags on

6:31am EDT

By Robert Birsel

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Senate was meeting on Tuesday to try to find a solution to protracted political turmoil, with both sides putting pressure on the only legislative assembly still functioning in the polarized country. Read more of this post

It’s Activists, Not Buffett, Who Can Change Corporate America?

It’s Activists, Not Buffett, Who Can Change Corporate America

By ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI

MAY 12, 2014, 9:30 AM 16 Comments

Anthony Scaramucci is founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, a global asset management firm with about $10.5 billion in assets under management and advisement as of March 31. Read more of this post