Bamboo Innovator

Beijing must break with Confucius to stamp out corruption

Beijing must break with Confucius to stamp out corruption

Editorial

2013-09-08

Following the recent trial of former Chongqing Communist Party secretary and Politburo member Bo Xilai, Beijing has continued its latest anti-graft campaign with investigations into four top-level oil sector executives during this past week. The investigations have seen the removal of Jiang Jiemin as the head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Jiang has also been accused of corruption during his stint as chairman of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). Read more of this post

Behind China’s Spree Killers; A criminal psychologist explains why so many in China are resorting to senseless violence and what we can do about it

Behind China’s Spree Killers – Economic Observer Online

By Liu Jinsong (刘金松), Xie Liangbin (谢良兵), Chen Zhe (陈哲) and Li Haojie (李浩杰)

Issue 635 , Sept 2, 2013

On Aug 19, a man entered a bus in Anyang, Henan Province and started indiscriminately slashing passengers with a knife. Two were killed and 13 injured. Less than a week later the same thing happened in Chengdu, leaving another four dead and 11 injured.  June saw the deadliest of these random attacks when an arsonist set fire to a bus in Xiamen, leaving 47 dead. In recent years, senseless attacks like these on bystanders seem to have been increasing in frequency. The perpetrators in each case had their own motivations, but what do they all have in common? And what can society do to prevent these attacks? Read more of this post

A boom of emerging-market listings prompted the Australian SIC to publish a report warning investors that these companies frequently failed to implement good corporate governance; 760 of ASX’s 2184 listed entities had operations or assets in emerging markets

Michael Bleby Reporter

Chasing the dragon: oversubscribed 99wuxian IPO closes

Published 06 September 2013 08:25, Updated 06 September 2013 11:46

Ross Benson says 99wuxian’s IPO has attracted a strong response despite not being particularly large. Photo: Rob Homer

The backers of 99wuxian are celebrating after the Chinese provider of an online marketplace for smartphone users closed its initial public offering just two weeks into a planned four-week period it had allowed to raise $20 million. The oversubscribed offering of 40-cent Chess Depositary Interests (CDIs), which are expected to start trading on the ASX on October 8, gives the company a market capitalisation of just under $410 million. About half of the shares will go to funds and half to individual investors, 99wuxian chairman Ross Benson said. Read more of this post

As protest looms, Cambodia’s strongman Hun Sen faces restive, tech-savvy youth

As protest looms, Cambodia’s strongman Hun Sen faces restive, tech-savvy youth

Thu, Sep 5 2013

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – At the Bonna Business Center, a tiny Internet cafe near the opulent mansion of Cambodia’s long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen, coffee is served with a big lump of dissatisfaction. “They talk about seven percent economic growth,” says Ou Rithy, 27, who hosts weekly political discussions at the cafe with other young Cambodians. “But I’m still a poor man.” He blames Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which won a recent general election widely criticized as rigged but lost the nation’s heart and soul – its restive, tech-savvy and increasingly outspoken youth. Read more of this post

Unilever buys Maryanne Shearer’s T2, with annual sales of A$57 million, to expand tea presence

Unilever buys Maryanne Shearer’s T2 to expand tea presence

Published 09 September 2013 09:02

Sue Mitchell

T2’s Maryanne Shearer has sold her business to Unilever for an undisclosed sum.

She opened her first teashop on Brunswick Street in Melbourne’s funky Fitzroy in 1996 and made her name selling brews such as Sencha Quince, Liquorice Legs and Strawberries & Cream. Now Maryanne Shearer, the founder of Australia’s fastest-growing premium tea chain T2, has sold out to the world’s largest tea company, Unilever. The purchase price was not disclosed, but with annual sales around $57 million and a record of strong double digit sales growth, it’s fair to assume that Ms Shearer, 50, will be able to retire in comfort when she finally tires of tea. Read more of this post

How the Resources Race Is Institutionalizing Poverty

How the Resources Race Is Institutionalizing Poverty

By Tunggadewa Mattangkilang on 7:01 pm September 7, 2013.
Balikpapan/Jakarta. It is not only plantations but also oil and gas companies that threaten to turn parts of Papua into an industrial wasteland. American multinational ConocoPhillips announced that it was planning to restart exploration, including seismic testing, in the Warim block — located several hundred kilometers inland from Merauke, Papua — in the near future. Read more of this post

Thailand is Southeast Asia’s most prolific carmaker, streets ahead of nearest-rival Indonesia

Boom times for the ‘Detroit of Southeast Asia’

Published: 2013/09/09

BANGKOK: At a high-tech factory in the world’s fastest growing auto production hub, industrial robots and white-suited workers put the finishing touches to hundreds of cars rolling off the assembly line each day. It could be a scene from Toyota City or Detroit, but this is Thailand, a country better known for its beaches and rice paddies. With major carmakers hit by a global economic downturn, the Southeast Asian nation has emerged as a rare bright spot in recent years. Thailand’s auto production surged 70 per cent in 2012 from the previous year, to 2.48 million vehicles, according to the Paris-based International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers. In contrast, China and India saw only single-digit gains. Read more of this post

Legoland owner to develop $90 million KidZania Singapore themepark

Legoland owner to develop KidZania Singapore

Sunday, September 8, 2013 – 09:30

Jasmine Ng

The Business Times

SINGAPORE – Malaysia’s Themed Attractions and Resorts – owner of Legoland and Sanrio Hello Kitty Town in the country – is launching its first overseas theme park, KidZania Singapore, to tap rising travel demand in the region. It has partnered Maybank, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Yakult, Canon and The Soup Spoon to set up five establishments in KidZania – an indoor theme park where children can pretend to be surgeons, pilots, runway models, journalists, chefs, firemen and many other professions. Read more of this post

Tide Reverses in Latin America; Brazil’s Prospects Fall While Mexico’s Rise as Fed Prepares to Ease Bond Buying

September 8, 2013, 7:35 p.m. ET

Tide Reverses in Latin America

Brazil’s Prospects Fall While Mexico’s Rise as Fed Prepares to Ease Bond Buying

THOMAS CATAN

The divergent fortunes of global emerging markets can be told through Latin America’s two biggest economies: Mexico and Brazil. Think of it as a tortoise-and-hare story. For the past decade, Brazil has boomed by selling raw materials to China. Its expanding middle class gorged on a tide of cheap credit unleashed by central banks in advanced economies as they tried to energize their recoveries. Read more of this post

More money, more problems for Norway

More money, more problems for Norway

Monday, September 9, 2013 – 08:50

AFP

OSLO – Norway which goes to the polls today, is an island of prosperity in Europe, with so much money that it literally doesn’t know what to do with it. The Nordic country faces an embarrassment of riches as it tries to figure out how to spend its huge pile of oil money without damaging the economy in the long run. “All countries around us are forced to reduce their spending,” said Mr Oeystein Doerum, chief economist at Norway’s largest bank, DNB. “Our biggest challenge is that our oil wealth is so huge, we run the risk of wasting it on substandard projects that are not profitable enough.” Read more of this post

Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Woes Amid Losses

Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Woes Amid Losses

Investors suffering the worst losses in Treasuries since at least 1978 can add dollar sales by emerging-market central banks to their list of challenges. Speculation that the Federal Reserve, the biggest buyer of Treasuries, will reduce its purchases sent U.S. debt down 4.1 percent this year and boosted the dollar against developing-nation currencies for four straight months, matching the longest streak since 2001, according to Bloomberg data. India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia have intervened in foreign-exchange markets, and dollar sales mean liquidating Treasuries, according to bond traders at Scotiabank and Bank of America Corp. Read more of this post

N.Y. Subpoenas Bitcoin Firms in Probe on Criminal Risk

N.Y. Subpoenas Bitcoin Firms in Probe on Criminal Risk

New York’s top banking regulator sent subpoenas to 22 digital-currency companies, including BitInstant LLC and Dwolla Corp., to determine whether new regulations should be adopted to govern the emerging industry, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bitcoin is a virtual currency created four years ago that can be used to buy and sell a broad array of items, from electronics to illegal narcotics, according to the agency. Read more of this post

Hedge Funds Cut Back on Fees; Pressure From Disappointed Investors Changes ‘2 and 20’ Model

Updated September 9, 2013, 12:31 a.m. ET

Hedge Funds Cut Back on Fees

Pressure From Disappointed Investors Changes ‘2 and 20’ Model

GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, JULIET CHUNG and MICHAEL CORKERY

Pressure from disappointed investors is forcing hedge funds to roll back their fees, putting the standard charge of 2% of assets under management and 20% of investment profits on the endangered list. Until a few years ago, most funds were like upscale New York restaurants: Some succeeded, others failed, but almost none cut prices. This pricing power was a product of the tens of billions of dollars that flowed into the industry after the tech meltdown of 2000, when savvy investments by some hedge funds shielded their investors from the drubbing suffered by holders of broad stock funds. Read more of this post

Haunted Greeks Sell Real Estate EBay-Style to Evict Debt Specter

Haunted Greeks Sell Real Estate EBay-Style to Evict Debt Specter

A legend that has swirled around the dilapidated mansion on Smolenski Street in Athens is that the ghost of the previous owner deters prospective buyers by moaning: “The house is mine.” The Greek government refuses to be spooked. The protected two-story mansion and tower, replete with palm trees in the overgrown gardens, will be sold on Sept. 17 to the highest bidder in an EBay-style Internet auction. Greece is trying to dispel criticism it’s not doing enough to sell real estate pledged as part of its 240 billion-euro ($315 billion) rescue. Read more of this post

Defiant Dancers Warn of Assad’s Reprisals as U.S. Warships Wait

Defiant Dancers Warn of Assad’s Reprisals as U.S. Warships Wait

As U.S. warships carrying cruise missiles took position in the Mediterranean, Syrian revelers danced in defiance to tunes extolling their president. “These songs put us in a beautiful mood,” said Nazhat Haj Ali, a supporter of Bashar al-Assad, describing the beach party on the sea’s eastern shore he had organized in the coastal city of Tartus four days ago. “Let the warships come. Our president is strong, and if they attack, he will emerge stronger.” Read more of this post