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Canada Clamps Down on Rich Chinese Migrants; Canada closed a controversial immigration program popular among rich Chinese that allowed wealthy individuals to effectively buy permanent residency

Canada Clamps Down on Rich Chinese Migrants

Ottawa Ends Its Immigrant Investor Program Popular Among Wealthy Chinese

JASON CHOW in Hong Kong and

ALISTAIR MACDONALD in Toronto

Feb. 11, 2014 11:34 p.m. ET

Canada closed a controversial immigration program popular among rich Chinese that allowed wealthy individuals to effectively buy permanent residency.

The cancellation of the Immigrant Investor Program, announced Wednesday, is the latest in a series of moves by Ottawa that have been perceived in parts of China and even Canada as limiting the inflow of Chinese people and investment into the country. Read more of this post

The Korea Development Bank (KDB) may see more than 1 trillion won ($933 million) in losses for 2013, largely due to huge loan-loss reserves for financially troubled conglomerates, the chief of the bank said

Economists predict that geo-engineering, performance drugs and artificial intelligence will shape our future

February 14, 2014 8:24 pm

Forecast: The world in 2114

Economists predict that geo-engineering, performance drugs and artificial intelligence will shape our future

Martin Weitzman

If there is one natural bridge spanning the chasm between today and a century from now, it is climate change. We can envision only the foundation of this bridge. Even so, we can make out enough features to sense that something big and possibly ominous may be on the distant horizon. Read more of this post

(Isia) – Global investors are heading back to Indonesia and sending stocks, bonds and the currency soaring, in a sharp reversal of sentiment after months of turmoil as the economy shows signs of improvement.

Investors Head Back to Indonesian Assets

Recent Data Indicate Improving Fundamentals

ANJANI TRIVEDI

Feb. 14, 2014 8:17 a.m. ET

Global investors are heading back to Indonesia and sending stocks, bonds and the currency soaring, in a sharp reversal of sentiment after months of turmoil as the economy shows signs of improvement.

The rupiah gained 3.4% against the dollar on Friday, the biggest one-day gain in four months, according to data provider CQG. For the week, the rupiah advanced 5%, making it Asia’s top-performing currency this year. Read more of this post

First of NYSE-Delisted China Stocks Launches Asian Offering

China Firm Preps for Hong Kong IPO

First of NYSE-Delisted China Stocks Launches Asian Offering

PRUDENCE HO

Updated Feb. 14, 2014 6:47 a.m. ET

HONG KONG—Two years ago, as Chinese companies listed in the U.S. battled a perception for being weak, or were tainted with fraud, many Chinese companies were taken private by their owners. Now, 15 months after it was bought out by its founder, the former New York-listed Gushan Environmental Energy Ltd. is raising up to US$96 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering. Read more of this post

South Korea has an unexpected new hit movie: the story of factory workers who became ill working for a company that looks a lot like the Korean giant Samsung.

South Korea’s Surprise Hit Film

South Korea has an unexpected new hit movie: the story of factory workers who became ill working for a company that looks a lot like the Korean giant Samsung

JEYUP S. KWAAK

Feb. 14, 2014 7:33 p.m. ET

South Korea has an unexpected new hit movie: the story of factory workers who became ill working for a company that looks a lot like the Korean giant Samsung. The makers of “Another Family”—the second-highest-grossing film to debut in South Korea last week—say it is based on the true story of a working-class family whose daughter contracted leukemia while working at a Samsung semiconductor factory and died of the disease in 2007. Read more of this post

China Prices a ‘Smoothed Version of Reality’

China Prices a ‘Smoothed Version of Reality’

ALEX FRANGOS

Feb. 14, 2014 7:03 a.m. ET

China’s economy faces many challenges. Rising prices aren’t one of them, at least according to official data.

Consumer prices in January were up 2.5% from a year earlier, matching December’s pace and within Beijing’s comfort zone. While such low inflation might normally make authorities feel safe opening the credit spigots, that’s unlikely to happen given the concern about the economy’s mounting debt load. Read more of this post

Bill Gates’ Energy Co. Files For Bankruptcy

Bill Gates’ Energy Co. Files For Bankruptcy

Tyler Durden on 02/14/2014 13:00 -0500

Submitted by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

Bill Gates’ Texas energy company has filed for bankruptcy protection as the depressed power market results in untenable financial losses.

The company, Optim Energy (EnergyCo LLC), owned by a Gates investment fund, filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy papers on Wednesday for its three power plants in eastern Texas, citing their inability to counter growing losses in the current market. Read more of this post

Chinese Capital Markets Frozen As Bad Loans Soar To Highest Since Crisis

Chinese Capital Markets Frozen As Bad Loans Soar To Highest Since Crisis

Tyler Durden on 02/14/2014 14:05 -0500

Chinese capital markets are quietly turmoiling as debt issues are delayed and demand for “Trust” products – the shadow-banking-system’s wealth management ‘investments’ – is tumbling. As Nikkei reports, since January, 9 companies have postponed or canceled issuance plans (around $1 billion) and is most pronounced in privately-owned companies (who lack an implicit government guarantee). This, of course, is exactly what the PBOC wanted (to instill some fear into these high-yield investors – demand – and thus slow the supply of credit to the riskiest over-capacity compenies) but as non-performing loans in China surge to post-crisis highs, fear remains prescient that they will be unable to “contain” the problem once real defaults begin (as opposed to ‘delays of payment’ that we have seen so far).

Via Bloomberg,

Chinese banks’ bad loans increased for the ninth straight quarter to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, highlighting pressures on asset quality and profit growth as the world’s second-largest economy slows. Read more of this post

Japan’s Rakuten buys chat app Viber for $900 million to expand digital empire

Japan’s Rakuten buys chat app Viber for $900 million to expand digital empire

5:10am EST

By Chang-Ran Kim

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc, controlled by billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani, will buy call and messaging app provider Viber Media Inc for $900 million in a deal that would more than double the number of users in its digital empire. Read more of this post

Prem Watsa “China Reminds Me Of US Housing In Boom”

Prem Watsa “China Reminds Me Of US Housing In Boom”

by VW StaffFebruary 14, 2014, 12:49 pm

Prem Watsa – Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (TSE:FFH) – Chairman and CEO on FFH conference call this morning.  Watsa discusses the state of the company with a “year in review” flavor, and looks to the future with a particular emphasis on China.  See  Prem Watsa: China Has Biggest Housing Bubble in History

Prem watsa Fairfax financial’s year end conference call

Thank you, Rick. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (TSE:FFH)’s year-end conference call. I plan to give you some of the highlights and then pass it on to Dave Bonham, our CFO, for additional financial details. Read more of this post

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal resigns to protest the blocking of an anti-corruption Bill, less than 50 days after taking office in the Indian capital.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal resigns

POSTED: 14 Feb 2014 23:19
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his resignation on Friday to protest the blocking of an anti-corruption Bill, less than 50 days after taking office in the Indian capital.

NEW DELHI – Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his resignation on Friday to protest the blocking of an anti-corruption Bill, less than 50 days after taking power in the Indian capital. Read more of this post

Singapore SMEs start to push back at rising rents; ASME head bemoans ‘cartel’ of institutional landlords using ‘draconian measures’

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 14, 2014

BUDGET ROUNDTABLE ON VIDEO

SMEs start to push back at rising rents

ASME head bemoans ‘cartel’ of institutional landlords using ‘draconian measures’

TEH SHI NING TSHINING@SPH.COM.SG

[SINGAPORE] Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are getting proactive about the mounting rent pressures they face.

The Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) is studying the feasibility of a database to track industrial and retail rents. This would record effective rents rather than contractual ones, providing greater transparency for SMEs and their landlords, ASME president Kurt Wee said at BT’s Budget Roundtable. Read more of this post

Jakarta: The Luxury Property Capital of the World

Jakarta: The Luxury Property Capital of the World

By Josua Gantan on 4:05 pm February 13, 2014.
Jakarta. Nowhere in the world offered a better return on high-end property investment in 2013 than Indonesia’s capital, a leading global real-estate consultancy based in London said.

“The growth of the economy and the property sector might get slower — it depends on the global outlook — however, we remain positive on the Indonesian market,” Hasan Pamudji, Knight Frank Indonesia’s associate director for consultancy and research, told Jakarta Globe. Read more of this post

Can Indonesia Educate Itself Out of Middle-Income Status?

Can Indonesia Educate Itself Out of Middle-Income Status?

By Daniel Suryadarma on 6:36 pm February 13, 2014.
After successfully expanding their economies from low- to middle-income levels, many developing countries now face the risk of falling into the “middle-income trap.” The IMF defines this as “the phenomenon of hitherto rapidly growing economies stagnating at middle-income levels and failing to graduate into the ranks of high-income countries.” Read more of this post

Jakarta’s Garbage Time Bomb

Jakarta’s Garbage Time Bomb

By Harriet Conron on 11:11 am February 13, 2014.
Carts of rubbish line the streets surrounding the Rawasari waste separation facility. Inside, men work quickly, hungrily dissecting piles of rotting garbage with pitchforks, separating recyclable waste from biodegradable matter, and trash destined for Bantar Gebang.

Snatches of upbeat banter and laughter mingle with the flying baskets of rubbish, and in the rush occasionally pieces of glass, plastic and green waste end up in the truck with the landfill. Read more of this post

The promoter problem in Indian banks

The promoter problem in Indian banks

David Keohane

| Feb 14 10:55 | Comment | Share

Or — watch the rate of stressed asset growth in the industry:

That’s from Goldman, they of the Modi-fied viewpoint. You can check out United Bank of India for more… Read more of this post

Xi Touts Communist Party as Defender of Confucius’s Virtues

FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 12:44 AM  10 Comments

Xi Touts Communist Party as Defender of Confucius’s Virtues

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

Xi Jinping wants you to memorize “The Analects” of Confucius. China’s Communist Party chief says that the homegrown thoughts of the ancient sage offer an antidote not just for his own country’s ills, but also for Western societies whose faith in capitalism has been battered by the economic slump. Read more of this post