Bamboo Innovator

Corporate entertaining in Japan: Kanpai! Wining, dining and gift-giving are to become tax-deductible for big firms

Corporate entertaining in Japan: Kanpai! Wining, dining and gift-giving are to become tax-deductible for big firms

Dec 14th 2013 | TOKYO | From the print edition

ALREADY, confides a kimono-clad hostess at Maiko, one of the pricier nightclubs in Ginza, Tokyo’s entertainment district, the efforts to revive Japan’s economy by Shinzo Abe, the country’s prime minister, are having a positive effect. The atmosphere at Maiko is indeed buoyant, as a billionaire entrepreneur and other moguls make a late-night entrance into the establishment’s convivial salon. Things could soon get even better. The government’s latest ploy to revitalise the economy is to make corporate entertainment by large companies partially tax-deductible. Read more of this post

Jokowi & Vox Populi

Jokowi & Vox Populi

By Yanto Soegiarto on 2:46 pm December 11, 2013.
Ask a taxi driver, a street vendor, or any ordinary citizen who they’d want to have as Indonesia’s next president and the likely answer will be Joko Widodo, the current governor of Jakarta. Read more of this post

JIM ROGERS: If India Can Successfully Convince Its People To Sell Gold, Then Who Knows How Low Prices Can Go?

JIM ROGERS: If India Can Successfully Convince Its People To Sell Gold, Then Who Knows How Low Prices Can Go?

MAMTA BADKAR

DEC. 20, 2013, 12:44 PM 2,052 4

Gold has had a nice runup for over a decade now, but it has taken a beating this year. The yellow metal is currently trading at three-year lows. We reached out to commodities expert Jim Rogers for his take on what will happen next in the gold markets. Read more of this post

Indian voters in assertive mood

Indian voters in assertive mood

Shivraj Singh Chouhan (3rd R), chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, greets his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters during his swearing-in ceremony in the central Indian city of Bhopal on December 14, 2013.

Saturday, December 21, 2013 – 09:00

The Straits Times

EDITORIAL

The results of the recent Indian state elections are a clear message to the ruling Indian National Congress that it should take the perils of incumbency seriously – when voters get jaded – as it prepares for the general election in May. Read more of this post

Indian dairy milks everything for a laugh; Dr Verghese Kurien created a cooperative system that cuts out middlemen and channels profits directly to farmers, in the process turning India into a major milk-producing nation.

Indian dairy milks everything for a laugh

Amul ads have given their humorous take on topical issues for nearly 50 years

Published on Dec 21, 2013

(Above) An Amul ad doing a take on the movie Life Of Pi and its director, Lee Ang. Another Amul ad making reference to the current row between India and the United States involving diplomat Devyani Khobragade

By Nirmala Ganapathy India Correspondent In New Delhi

PROBABLY India’s oldest dairy brand, Amul butter is known for spreading not just tasty goodness but also topical humour. Read more of this post

Cost advantage of shale gas boom helps US chemicals exports

Last updated: December 9, 2013 4:09 pm

Shale gas boom helps US chemicals exports

By Ed Crooks in New York

The US chemicals industry is planning a sharp increase in its exports as a result of the cost advantage created by the shale gas boom, putting pressure on competitors in Europe and Asia. Read more of this post

Mexico to End 75 Years of Govt Control of Vast Oil Reserves

Mexico to End 75 Years of Govt Control of Vast Oil Reserves

By Adam Williams, Eric Martin & Nacha Cattan on 10:10 am December 15, 2013.
Mexico City. Mexico’s Congress approved a bill to end a 75-year state oil monopoly and generate as much as $20 billion in additional foreign investment a year. Read more of this post

Unsold: Ten Million Pounds of McDonald’s Mighty Wings

December 18, 2013, 4:34 PM

Unsold: Ten Million Pounds of McDonald’s Mighty Wings

JULIE JARGON

Some McDonald’s franchisees are in a flap over a chicken wings promotion that flopped. McDonald’s, which has been struggling to attract customers amid a sluggish economy and has suffered from some operational missteps, purchased approximately 50 million pounds of chicken wings for a limited-time promotion in the fall, according to a person familiar with the matter. Read more of this post

How Madonna’s $35 Tops Make Macy’s Unbeatable: Corporate Finance

How Madonna’s $35 Tops Make Macy’s Unbeatable: Corporate Finance

Macy’s Inc. (M) is rewarding bondholders with the retail industry’s biggest returns as the most-profitable U.S. department store boosts sales in the face of what may be the weakest holiday shopping season since 2009. Read more of this post

Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2; Expanding His Own Remit Further, President Takes Lead on Economy, Traditionally Premier’s Turf

Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2

Expanding His Own Remit Further, President Takes Lead on Economy, Traditionally Premier’s Turf

JEREMY PAGE, BOB DAVIS and LINGLING WEI

Dec. 20, 2013 8:20 p.m. ET

China’s President Xi Jinping, right, walks ahead of Premier Li Keqiang at a ceremony in Beijing on Oct. 1.Reuters

BEIJING—British officials were finalizing details of Prime Minister David Cameron‘s visit this month to Beijing when they received a last-minute scheduling change: President Xi Jinping would host a banquet in Mr. Cameron’s honor. Read more of this post

Lavish funerals go up in smoke as China orders frugality; official funerals had become a “platform to show off wealth and connections”

Lavish funerals go up in smoke as China orders frugality

Friday, December 20, 2013 – 11:50

AFP

BEIJING- Chinese officials have been ordered to tone down their increasingly extravagant funerals, state media said Thursday, as Beijing made clear its sweeping austerity crackdown applies even in death. Read more of this post

China’s Achilles’ heel: Growing foreign oil and gas dependency

China’s Achilles’ heel: Growing foreign oil and gas dependency

Tim Daiss

2013-12-21

Amid news of China’s GDP growth for the third quarter, still stellar at 7.8% compared to the rest of the world, its impressive US$3.66 trillion in foreign currency reserves — the largest in the world — and even its recent successful unmanned moon mission, China has an Achilles’ heel, a weakness that is mounting and posed to worsen in coming years: its dependency on foreign oil and natural gas. Read more of this post

China’s financial system is in crisis mode again, and the central bank’s billions aren’t helping

China’s financial system is in crisis mode again, and the central bank’s billions aren’t helping

By Gwynn Guilford @sinoceros December 20, 2013

On Dec. 20, as China’s overnight money-market rate surged to 10%—the level reached during the country’s cash crunch last June—the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) pumped a reported 200 billion yuan into the system. That brought rates down to 7%.

But it wasn’t enough. Rates neared 10% once again today. And the PBOC’s floodgates swung open, again. In total, it injected 300 billion yuan in the last three days via its short-term liquidity operation (SLO), the PBOC said over Sina Weibo (link in Chinese; registration required). Here’s a look at the 7-day rate, viaBloomberg’s Tom Orlik: Read more of this post

China to Open More of Government Market to Foreign Firms

China to Open More of Government Market to Foreign Firms

Wants to Join Global Pact on Government Purchases

BOB DAVIS

Updated Dec. 20, 2013 10:33 a.m. ET

BEIJING—China said it would agree to open more of its vast government market to foreign firms as part of a decadelong bid to join a global pact on government purchases, which could ultimately benefit Chinese companies too. Read more of this post

China companies try new measures to keep staff from fleeing

China companies try new measures to keep staff from fleeing

Friday, Dec 20, 2013

Qiu Quanlin

China Daily/Asia News Network

Chen Zhongwei has had to shift some of his processing business to factories in inland areas due to a shortage of workers in his company, located in the traditional manufacturing hub of Dongguan. Read more of this post

Australia’s slowing economy needs its floating exchange rate more than ever

Australia’s slowing economy needs its floating exchange rate more than ever

Dec 14th 2013 | From the print edition

THIRTY years ago this week, Australia took a big economic gamble. On December 12th 1983 Paul Keating, then treasurer (finance minister), decided to float the Australian dollar.

Ordinary Australians have lived with the highs and the lows of this decision ever since. In its first 20 years afloat, the dollar’s value closely followed the prices of the commodities Australia exports (see chart). But around 2003 they suddenly diverged. Over the next eight years commodity prices quadrupled; the dollar rose by much less. It no longer “has any day-to-day relationship to commodity prices”, according to Ric Deverell of Credit Suisse, a bank. Read more of this post

Hyosung chairman grilled over the group’s alleged tax evasion, embezzlement and creation of a slush fund

2013-12-10 16:48

Hyosung chairman grilled over slush fund creation

Nam Hyun-woo

Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Suk-rae appeared before the prosecution Tuesday to be questioned over the group’s alleged tax evasion, embezzlement and creation of a slush fund. The 78-year-old tycoon appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at around 10 a.m.  Read more of this post

Korea’s State firm CEOs pressured to cut debts; combined debt owed by public firms totaled 565.8 trillion won ($538 billion), higher than the government’s debt of 446 trillion won

2013-12-10 17:40

State firm CEOs pressured to cut debts

By Na Jeong-ju
Strategy and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok vowed Tuesday to conduct “rigorous” debt restructuring programs at public firms, saying their CEOs will be held responsible if they fail to meet government standards.
“We will implement stricter performance evaluation standards for all CEOs at public firms,” Hyun said during a forum on public sector reform in Seoul. “If they fail to reduce debts, they will be kicked out immediately. We won’t consider their given terms.” Read more of this post

Thai Opposition Decision on Election Participation Risks Crisis

Thai Opposition Decision on Election Participation Risks Crisis

Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party will decide today whether to boycott a snap election called for Feb. 2, a move that may deepen the nation’s political crisis after months of street protests. Senior party officials including former lawmakers, who will meet in Bangkok, have been urged to skip the polls by protesters calling for parliament to be replaced by an unelected council. The protesters are seeking to erase the political influence of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s family. Read more of this post

Taking voting rights away from poor and uneducated not the answer: Thailand’s election commissioner

Taking voting rights away from poor and uneducated not the answer: Thailand’s election commissioner

Saturday, December 21, 2013 – 12:59

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation/Asia News Network

THAILAND – Talk among the educated middle class and the elite about taking away people’s right to vote is unacceptable, Election Commission member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said, adding that this went against the fundamental values of equality. Read more of this post