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Yet Another China Growth Downgrade
Another week, another downgrade as pessimism spreads about China’s economic prospects. This time it’s UBS Securities (UBS), which cut its 2013 forecast for gross domestic product expansion from 8 percent to 7.7 percent. ';Increasingly evidence suggests that growth will be weaker than we previously envisaged,'; writes Tao Wang, UBS’s chief China economist, in a May 21 ...
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China factory blast leaves 13 dead 20 missing
A blast which ripped through an explosives plant in China has left 13 people dead and another 20 missing, an official said Tuesday, compounding the country’s poor industrial safety record. Another 19 people were injured in the explosion on Monday at a three-storey workshop owned by Poly Explosives (Jinan), a state-owned company in the eastern province of Shandong, the Xinhua news agency ...
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China’s Li offers to help end Pakistan’s energy crisis
China and Pakistan should make cooperation on power generation a priority, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said, as Islamabad seeks to end an energy crisis that triggers power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, bringing the economy to a near standstill. Li arrived in the Pakistan capital on Wednesday on the second leg of his first official trip since taking office in March after a visit to ...
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Chinese PM on Pakistan visit
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Pakistan Wednesday for a two-day visit where he will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif as the long-time allies look to boost trade ties. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party swept to victory in the May 11 general election on a promise to revitalise Pakistan’s struggling economy and help from its giant neighbour to the north will ...
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In film market China allures but also deters
In just a few years, China has become the world’s most enticing movie market, but the pitfalls there for foreign filmmakers are many, experts say. Censorship, bureaucracy and piracy head the roster of concerns, according to specialists interviewed in China, Hong Kong and at the Cannes Film Festival. ';China is extremely complicated when it comes to the cinema,'; said Jerome ...
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PM Li Keqiang faces litmus test in Pakistan China’s ‘iron brother’
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang faces the challenge of meeting conflicting demands for his attention and Beijing’s purse when he lands in Pakistan on Wednesday at the end of his India visit, his first foreign tour after assuming office. Li needs to pay equal attention to the aspirations of newly elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the armed forces led by Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, sources ...
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China Space Programme Ramping Up Capabilities Pentagon Says
China’s growing space prowess shows no signs of slowing, the US Department of Defense said in its annual report to Congress on military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China. The Pentagon has been carefully monitoring China’s space activities, and pointed out that last year, the country conducted a total of 18 space launches and expanded its ...
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China arrests 13 over protest ‘rumours’
Chinese authorities have arrested 13 people for Internet posts that sparked a rare protest in Beijing, highlighting tensions between officials and migrant workers, police said. The 13 held include the boyfriend of Yuan Liya, a 22-year-old woman who fell to her death from a shopping mall, igniting the hours-long protest by hundreds of people earlier this month, Beijing police said late ...
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Japan to Follow Own Path on Abductee Issue With N Korea
A senior Japanese official said on Tuesday that Tokyo will stick with its policy of making its own overtures to North Korea on what it believes are abductions of its citizens, dismissing US and South Korean concerns that the North may try to drive a wedge between the three nations. A surprise trip to Pyongyang last week by a top aide to prime minister Shinzo Abe irked Japan’s allies, who ...
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Fed’s Bullard Says ECB Needs ‘Aggressive’ QE to Avoid Japan Fate
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said Europe risks an extended period of low growth and deflation like Japan’s unless the European Central Bank acts with an aggressive quantitative easing programme. ';You should worry about it, and then take policy action to avoid it,'; Bullard said in Frankfurt today in response to an audience question after a speech. ...
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Japan April exports rise 3.8 pct yearyear – MOF
Japanese exports rose 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier, marking a second straight month of gains, Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday, in a sign that a weaker yen and a pickup in global demand are helping the export-reliant economy. The MOF data also showed that Japan logged a trade deficit in April for a 10th straight month, with higher import costs offsetting export gains ...
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S’pore Japan prime ministers express wish for enhanced bilateral ties
The prime ministers of Singapore and Japan have expressed the desire to enhance bilateral ties. Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong met his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday. In his opening remarks, Abe said both countries share the same values of freedom and democracy. He added Singapore and Japan can work together for peace and stability in the ...
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Japan Confronts Pyongyang Abductions
A senior Japanese official said Tokyo will make its own overtures to North Korea on what it claims are abductions of Japanese citizens, dismissing US and South Korean concern that the North may try to drive a wedge between the three allies. A surprise trip to Pyongyang last week by Isao Iijima, a senior aide to prime minister Shinzo Abe, irked Japan’s allies, who fear such moves could ...
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Japan Keeps Monetary Policy Steady Amid Deflation Fight
The Bank of Japan stood pat on monetary policy Wednesday amid market jitters over volatility in bond markets, which has threatened to undermine the country’s battle to end deflation and stimulate growth in the giant economy. In a unanimous vote, the bank’s board stuck to its strategy of expanding the monetary base at an annual pace of 60 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen, or $585 ...
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Singapore-KL high-speed rail link looking ‘very attractive’
The proposed high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is looking ';very, very attractive';, though further discussions on the finer details are needed, Malaysian Foreign minister Anifah Aman said yesterday. In his first major press conference since the elections to outline the ministry’s priorities, Datuk Seri Anifah said preliminary studies for the rail link are ...
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Tennis Iron woman Zheng stuns Wozniacki in Brussels
China's Zheng Jie knocked top seed Caroline Wozniacki out of the Brussels Open on Wednesday, just hours after prevailing in a three-set opener held over because of Tuesday's heavy ...
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France seeks to brand Hezbollah as terrorist group
Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday. "Because of the decisions that have been taken by Hezbollah and the fact that they are fighting very harshly the Syrian population, we have decided to ask that the military branch of the Hezbollah would be considered as a terrorist organisation," Fabius told reporters in English. The United States has long designated the Lebanon-based militant group, ...
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Central Coast Mariners Asian Champions League campaign over after Guangzhou loss
China Central Coast had no answer to the talent assembled so expensively by Guangzhou Evergrande as the A-League champions tumbling out the Asian Champions League on Wednesday with a 3-0 defeat in China.Manager Graham Arnold had stressed the importance of keeping a clean sheet if his side was to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit in the round of 16, but Brazilian midfielder Muriqui put Guangzhou ...
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Richmonds PriceSmart finds right mix in catering to both Asian and English-speaking shoppers
METRO VANCOUVER -- While debate continues to burn over a campaign for English sign bylaws to rule over pockets of Chinese business resistance, a supermarket chain has pulled off a cross-cultural culinary coup.Many businesses across the city display dual language signage -- usually English and Chinese, in varying proportions depending on what community you're in.Few, if any, however, can ...
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Am. Samoa to keep flier miles for govt travelers
By FILI SAGAPOLUTELEAssociated Press PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) - American Samoa plans to take away frequent flier miles from government workers who travel on behalf of the U.S. territory. Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the territory will use the miles to help medical patients travel off-island when needed, or help students travel for educational programs. Moliga says Hawaiian Airlines ...
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Bangladeshi collapse volunteers haunted by bloody rescue trauma
SAVAR, Bangladesh -- Mamun was hailed a hero for pulling survivors from the ruins of Bangladesh's Rana Plaza factory complex but now he struggles to sleep, haunted by the memory of sawing off a young woman's ...
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French-Asian consortium announces winning of Canada natural gas project
PARIS--A consortium comprising French, South Korean and Chinese companies has won a contract for a liquefied natural gas project in Canada, the French partner Technip said on ...
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Pakistans Imran Khan leaves hospital for homePakistani politician Imran Khan left hospital Wednesday two weeks after breaking bones in his back in a fall at an election rally a hospital spokesman said.
Imran Khan left hospital on Wednesday, two weeks after breaking bones in his back in a fall at an election rally, a hospital spokesman said. The 60-year-old was ordered to remain immobile in bed after he fractured vertebrae and a rib in a dramatic tumble just days before the May 11 general election, where his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party made a major breakthrough. Khwaja Nazir, a ...
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Soldier beheaded in suspected terror attack in London
LONDON: In a shocking incident, a soldier aged around 20 years and wearing a T-shirt that read "Help for Heroes" was beheaded in the middle of a road in ...
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Thai Same-Sex Marriage Bill Not Without Controversy
BANGKOK, THAILAND -- As the debate on same-sex marriage continues in Western nations, including the United States, Thailand could become the first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage. Thailand is known for its liberal acceptance of sexuality, but the draft same-sex marriage law is not without controversy. This is a traditional Thai wedding, except there is no groom. There are two ...
Nepal Focus
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Nepal reaches out for help to save tiger population
Nepal’s tigers, along with tigers across the Asian region, are being killed off by poachers and human encroachment on their habitats, with an extinction crisis mounting, the government has appealed to the international community for help.
The tiger, there is arguably no land animal so beautiful and majestic as this magnificent member of the Felidae family. These creatures have invaded the human imagination for centuries and are the national animals of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, as well as North and South Korea. Read more
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