Bamboo Innovator

The opening of US air space to drones has the potential to create a $12bn industry

October 8, 2013 6:54 pm

Technology: Eyes in the sky

By Geoff Dyer

The opening of US air space to drones has the potential to create a $12bn industry

Rodney Brossart, who owns a 3,000-acre cattle farm in North Dakota, is an unlikely trendsetter. In 2011, six cows from a neighbouring property wandered on to his farm. When he allegedly refused to return the cattle and barred law enforcement from entering his property, police asked that a Predator drone from a local air force base fly over his farm to see if Mr Brossart was armed. Read more of this post

South Korea pays heavy price for education

October 9, 2013 7:15 am

South Korea pays heavy price for education

By Jung-a Song in Seoul

Park Sang-hee, is a new breed of university drop out. The 21-year-old South Korean ditched his music degree not to hit the hippy trail or to develop the next Google; but to train as an electrician. The pragmatic Mr Park may be a sign of things to come. In his home market, the deluge of graduates – 7 out of every 10 high school students go to university – and the subsequent skills surplus and labour underutilisation is taking a toll on theeconomy. Read more of this post

S. Korea groans with prevalent financial scams

S. Korea groans with prevalent financial scams

English.news.cn   2013-10-10 07:49:07

Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) — A company worker in South Korea received a text message on his smartphone. The message read that anyone who wants emergency funds can easily access a credit line in banks by making just a call to the phone number stated in the message. The 36-year-old man, who was ardently looking for the banks’ credit line to pay back another debt, immediately called the number, but the swindler posing as a consultant at a major local bank refused to give him the credit line due to his low credit rating. Read more of this post

‘Outsider’ to lead troubled CJ Group

2013-10-09 16:45

‘Outsider’ to lead troubled CJ Group

Yi Whan-woo
CJ Group’s sudden management reshuffle on Tuesday is drawing keen attention as the group has decided to appoint Lee Chae-wook as CEO of CJ Corp., the holding company of Korea’s food and entertainment giant CJ Group. The group officially said that the appointment was aimed at ensuring stability in management and speeding up the slowing down of overseas projects but the sudden move has spawned speculation that it was part of punishment against management. Read more of this post

Korean food companies are catering to a new demographic: single people

2013-10-09 17:17

Food firms shift focus to singles

By Park Ji-won
Food companies are catering to a new demographic: single people. An increasing number of companies are changing their interiors and menus to target such customers.
Outback Steakhouse Korea, an American restaurant franchise, increased the number of bar seats for single customers at its Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province and Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province locations in July. Read more of this post

How to revive the Korean ginseng industry

How to revive the Korean ginseng industry

By Shin Wang-su, President of Korea Ginseng Research and a director of the Korea Ginseng Federation

Oct 07,2013

Korea’s ginseng industry is in a crisis. The farmland is diminishing, farmers are getting old and the costs of material and labor are going up, jeopardizing the production of ginseng. Repeated cultivation of ginseng drastically reduced its yield, and ginseng farmers need to find fresh land where ginseng was never planted before. Therefore, securing arable lands is the most pressing task. However, the average leasing price for 3.3 square meters (35.5 square feet) of land is about 3,000 won ($2.80), so producing six-year-old ginseng from a 330,000-square-meter field cost about 10.8 billion won. The leasing price is translated into the production cost, lowering price competitiveness of Korean ginseng. Read more of this post

Martin Hartono, one of the three sons of Indonesia’s richest man Robert Budi Hartono, said “technopreneurs” have a great opportunity to capture consumer-related sectors given the country’s young population

Focusing on Consumers With ‘Technopreneurs’

By Muhamad Al Azhari on 11:11 am October 10, 2013.

Martin Hartono speaking at a public lecture in Jakarta organized by the Tanoto Foundation in partnership with the economic faculty at the University of Indonesia. (GA Photo/Suhadi)

Martin Hartono, one of the three sons of Indonesia’s richest man Robert Budi Hartono, said “technopreneurs,” or entrepreneurs in technology in Indonesia, have a great opportunity to capture consumer-related sectors given the country’s young population. “Currently, young people who are in school will later get a job and spend… are the generation that is used to living with the Internet,” said Martin, whose father Budi and uncle Michael Hartono have a combined $15.5 billion net worth, according to Globe Asia calculations. Read more of this post

McDonald’s which entered India in 1996 and now runs 319 outlets, sacked Vikram Bakshi in July on the grounds that his diverse business interests were diluting his focus on McDonald’s

Vikram Bakshi’s attention divided, not to extend term as MD: McDonald’s tells CLB

ET Bureau Oct 4, 2013, 04.30AM IST

By Shubham Batra

NEW DELHI: US burger chain McDonald’s has told theCompany Law Board that it decided not to extend Vikram Bakshi’s term as the managing director of one of its joint ventures in India because he has not been devoting enough time for the business. Bakshi has not been able to devote substantial time in the development and performance of the business due to his association with 25 other companies promoted by him and his family, McDonald’s India said before the Company Law Board (CLB) on Thursday. Bakshi had approached the board after McDonald’s removed him as the managing director of Connaught Plaza Restaurants, the joint venture that runs McDonald’s outlets in north and east India, on August 6. Read more of this post

India-Made Fountain Pens Thrive On Global Demand

India-Made Fountain Pens Thrive On Global Demand

by Tushar A Amin | Oct 10, 2013

Steeped in history and tradition, Indian-made fountain pens—despite their relative anonymity—are thriving on global demand

A felt-lined tray is placed on the counter separating me from the gleaming shrines at the William Penn boutique store at High Street Phoenix Mall in Lower Parel, Mumbai. Slipping on a dark glove, the high priestess approaches a glass-enclosed shrine and turns the key. From a distance, you are already in awe of the fine craftsmanship of Japanese Maki-e artiste Kousen Oshita in creating this exquisite tribute to Lord Venkateswara. As the glass veil parts, the priestess delicately lifts the object of worship from its pedestal and rests it on a velvet bed. Read more of this post

India takes big step to internationalise the rupee

October 9, 2013 5:01 pm

India takes big step to internationalise the rupee

By Robin Harding in Washington and James Crabtree in Mumbai

India is making a big move to internationalise its currency through a deal with the World Bank to launch the first offshore rupee bond programme. The International Finance Corporation, an arm of the development lender, will vastly boost the size of the offshore rupee market by selling $1bn of bonds to international investors. The launch of the programme shows that India is trying to find ways to attract foreign capital after therupee plunged this summer, when the US Federal Reserve seemed ready to slow its asset purchases from $85bn-a-month. Read more of this post

Carl Icahn’s purchase of a 5 per cent stake in the Canadian company Talisman Energy marks the entry of activist shareholders into the energy business. Could it indicate the beginning of a revolution?

Shareholder activism arrives in the energy sector

October 8, 2013 7:10 pmby Nick Butler

Carl Icahn’s purchase of a 5 per cent stake in the Canadian company Talisman Energy marks the entry of activist shareholders into the energy business. Could it indicate the beginning of a revolution? Activist shareholders have a bad reputation, particularly in Europe where they are seen as asset strippers who pull apart good businesses for a short-term gain. That can happen but they can also be very productive in forcing companies to examine very hard what they are doing with their shareholders’ money. Read more of this post

Why a graveyard owner in China is turning its cemeteries into a public company

Why a graveyard owner in China is turning its cemeteries into a public company

By Gwynn Guilford @sinoceros October 9, 2013

As plum real estate in China grows scarce and prices soar, it isn’t just luxury condo buyers who are paying out the nose to secure a plot of soil. Shrinking land supply and booming demand are driving a boom in China’s burial business. In Shanghai, for instance, a plot of land near its downtown sold for $3.5 billion in early September—about 37,300 yuan per square meter. Meanwhile, China’s population is aging fast; its 119 million citizens aged 65 and over as of 2010 will more than double by 2050.  Read more of this post

The new gas guzzler; China’s status as the top oil importer will push it to become more engaged in global security

October 9, 2013 7:07 pm

The new gas guzzler

By Ed Crooks and Lucy Hornby

China’s status as the top oil importer will push it to become more engaged in global security

The world has just passed a historic milestone: China has overtaken the US as theworld’s largest oil importer. After decades as the world’s biggest market for the international oil trade, America is ceding that position, the US Energy Information Administration said this week. The implications for international relations and global security are profound. The predictable element in the equation is the inexorable growth in Chinese oil demand, as the world’s most populous nation slowly approaches the standard of living of Europe, the US and its more prosperous Asian neighbours. Read more of this post

The collection and use of social maintenance fees have become a hotbed of rent-seeking and corruption in China

Audit Finds Rampant SMF Irregularities

10-08 14:47 Caijing

The collection and use of SMFs have become a hotbed of rent-seeking and corruption, and a convenient source of income for corrupt officials.

By staff reporters Shu Taifeng and Li Qiyan

The findings of a recent audit by the National Audit Office (NAO) of the management and usage of social maintenance fees (SMFs) were published Sept. 18, which is a first since SMF came into being 11 years ago. The partial audit of one municipality, eight provinces and 45 counties took stock of SMFs local governments collected from 2009 through May 2012, which totaled US$ 2.81 billion. Read more of this post

Sip of Death Plagues Cancerous River Villages; Polluted rivers in three provinces have been linked to high death rates in China’s ‘cancer villages’

10.09.2013 17:33

Sip of Death Plagues Cancerous River Villages

Polluted rivers in three provinces have been linked to high death rates in China’s ‘cancer villages’

By staff reporters Xie Haitao and Liu Hongqiao, and intern reporters Huang Jin and Zhang Xia

(Beijing) — Cancer is claiming fewer lives these days, and Dr. Wang Shiren says he’s been caring for a steadily declining number of patients suffering from gastrointestinal disorders. Yet a decades-long health calamity continues to grip Huangmengying, a Henan Province community of about 2,500 straddling the Huai River, where Dr. Wang practices and researchers have been monitoring conditions for at least eight years. Read more of this post

New version of Quotations from Chairman Mao, the world’s second most published book, to hit Chinese shelves in November

Mao’s Little Red Book to get revamp

New version of Quotations from Chairman Mao, the world’s second most published book, to hit Chinese shelves in November

Tania Branigan in Beijing

The Guardian, Friday 27 September 2013 15.54 BST

Chinese singers perform with their copies of the Little Red Book in hand in 1971. Photograph: Frank Fischbeck/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

It will not be especially little, and the cover will be only partly red. But a new version of the world’s second most published book is due to appear on Chinese shelves, decades after it fell from favour with the end of Maoism. The re-emergence of Quotations from Chairman Mao – better known as the Little Red Book – comes amid an official revival of the era’s rhetoric.China‘s leader, Xi Jinping, has embraced Maoist terminology and concepts, launching a “mass line rectification campaign” and this week even presiding over a televised self-criticism session. Read more of this post

China’s ChiNext Board, a Nasdaq-style index tailored for growth enterprises, is facing increasing bubble risk in a profit frenzy

ChiNext faces bubble risk

English.news.cn   2013-10-10 14:09:57

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) — China’s ChiNext Board, a Nasdaq-style index tailored for growth enterprises, is facing increasing bubble risk in a profit frenzy, the China Business News reported on Thursday. During Wednesday’s trading, the ChiNext Index hit a historical high of 1,418.48 points before retreating slightly to close 2.03 percent up at 1,415.83 points. Compared to the start of the year, the index has increased more than 98 percent. Read more of this post

China Shadow Banking Sector may Hit $3.35Trl, Says Govt. Think Tank; JPMorgan’s chief China economist estimates China’s shadow banking sector is as large as 36 trillion yuan ($5.86 trillion)

China Shadow Banking Sector may Hit $3.35Trl, Says Govt. Think Tank

10-09 14:23 Caijing

The figure equals to 40 percent of gross domestic products and 16 percent of total banking assets in China. China’s shadow banking sector could be valued at 20.5 trillion yuan ($3.35 trillion) at the least at the end of last year, compared with an official figure of 14.6 trillion yuan ($2.39 trillion), according to a government think tank report. The size of the shadow banking sector has been expanding quickly since 2010, said the report, released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Tuesday. Read more of this post

China is raising the hurdles for foreign banks, more than tripling the amount of capital that new entrants to the country must post and limiting the derivatives operations of those already on the ground

October 9, 2013 10:19 am

China raises hurdles for foreign banks

By Simon Rabinovitch in Shanghai

China is raising the hurdles for foreign banks, more than tripling the amount of capital that new entrants to the country must post and limiting the derivatives operations of those already on the ground. But at the same time, the Chinese regulator also has offered foreign lenders much-desired clarification about how they can sell bonds in the domestic market, issue credit cards and offer overseas investment products to their clients on the mainland. Read more of this post