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U.S. senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet
WASHINGTON -- Senators sought cost-cutting opportunities Wednesday in the Pentagon's $400 billion program for the next-generation F-35, a fighter jet with a troubled testing record that military leaders said America couldn't afford not to build. Chairing the hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin lamented that the F-35 -- which is being tested at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas -- already has ...
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US spying foiled attack in India during CWG
US electronic surveillance . "We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, not just in the United States, but in some cases, right here in Germany," President Obama told reporters at a joint press conference in Berlin with German ...
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Brazil middle-class anger turns to Fifa cups
Fifa boss Joseph Blatter is the most hated person in Brazil today. With his caustic comments on the ongoing protests in several cities across the country, Blatter has provoked young demonstrators and might have added to the problems of Brazilian governors and federal government. On Tuesday, as thousands of people were rallying here against the bus fare hikes and public spending on 2014 World Cup ...
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Dolce and Gabbana get jail for $268m tax dodge
ROME: An Italian court on Wednesday sentenced fashion house duo Dolce & Gabbana to one year and eight months in prison for tax evasion of 200 million ($268 million). They were also ordered by the court in Milan to pay a fine of 500,000 to Italy's national tax agency. Lawyers for Dolce and Gabbana, whose celebrity clients include Beyonce and Madonna, immediately said they will appeal, ...
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Ghost tale becomes best seller in atheist China
BEIJING: A novel with a ghost as the narrator has become a best seller in China, attracting orders of nearly a million within days of its release. The popularity of the novel, 'The Seventh Day', is surprising because China's Communists have battled superstitious beliefs in ghosts and afterlife for over five decades. It is becoming popular become the novel taps into public anger ...
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World Briefing | Asia Muslim Women Sentenced to Hard Labor in Myanmar
A court in Myanmar has found two Muslim women guilty of setting off a recent outbreak of sectarian violence, one of them by bumping into a Buddhist novice monk. Myint Thein of the pro-government National Unity Party, who attended their trial, said Wednesday that the two women in the central township of Okkan were convicted of ...
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Asian mkts fall on Bernanke comments China data eyed
US stocks tumbled more than 1 per cent on Wednesday and benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield surged 17 basis points to 2.355 per cent, its highest in 15 months, while the dollar advanced broadly on the back of rising yields. Bernanke said on Wednesday the US economy is expanding strongly enough for the Fed to begin slowing the pace of its $85 billion monthly purchases of Treasuries and ...
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More From Mad Mad World
"Happy Birthday to You," the ditty sung around the world in tribute to everyone from toddlers to centenarians, belongs to the public, according to a lawsuit filed ...
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Rail Gains Popularity for Asia-Europe Trade
Slow-steaming by shipping lines, the shift of production centers in China inland and the easing of customs barriers in Eastern Europe are rapidly opening up overland transport routes between Asia and Europe.Trans-Russia routes from China into Eastern Europe and the ancient Silk Road via Kazakhstan are all seeing rising volumes. Forwarders claim ...
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UPDATE 1-HK investigates HSBC other banks for inappropriate market conduct
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank said on Tuesday that its investigation into possible benchmark rate manipulation has been extended to include HSBC and a number of other banks. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced in December that it was investigating UBS about possible misconduct relating to its submissions for the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (Hibor). ';Apart ...
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Inside business HK fears cooling of hot money flows
How hot is Hong Kong? Ed Snowden has fuelled a media firestorm by hiding here while he lobs out explosive revelations about US internet snooping. But locals should have their eyes on a different kind of American-generated heat. Hong Kong has been one of the biggest repositories of hot money created by the ultra-low interest rates of the US Federal Reserve since the financial crisis. Now, it is ...
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Apple hopes to dominate Taiwan’s tablet market
The Taiwanese tablet market is set to grow exponentially this year, nearly doubling the hardware sales of 2012. Executive VP and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Maxwell Cheng of Far EasTone Telecommunications (FETLF), told DigiTimes that 70 percent to 80 percent of those tablets will fall within the seven-inch range. Cheng’s company alone hopes to sell roughly 300,000 units this ...
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Trade alliance plans mission to Taiwan
The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Trade Alliance this week announced its first trade trip to Taiwan. The trade mission will connect New Mexico companies with like-minded businesses in Taiwan, said Randy Trask, director of the alliance. ';It’s going to be centered around a semiconductor trade show. Anything from LEDs to semiconductors, this would be a fit,'; Trask said. ...
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sign of closer links for China Taiwan
The governments of China and Taiwan are set to open their first representative offices in each other’s countries. The new Chinese leadership has been taking a more stridently nationalist approach towards other neighbours, with whom arguments about the sovereignty of islands in the South China and East China Seas remain ...
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Taiwan’s EVA Air joins world’s biggest air alliance
Taiwan’s EVA Airways on Tuesday joined Star Alliance, the world’s biggest airline grouping, in a move that could give it an edge over regional rivals like China Airlines. ';EVA Air has successfully completed all joining requirements and I can confirm that our chief executive board has now unanimously accepted EVA Air into our alliance,'; Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab ...
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Swish Systex bring mPOS payments to Taiwan
Mobile point-of-sale services provider Swish has signed a partnership agreement with Taiwanese IT service provider Systex. Swish and Systex will offer a chip and swipe mobile point-of-sale service to Taiwanese merchants. Under the terms of the deal, Systex will serve as Swish’s technical and customer service support arm for the entire Taiwanese market. Swish provides the app, card ...
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N Korea wades into NSA spying scandal branding US ‘kingpin of rights abuse’
The North even argued that the revelations of mass surveillance operations demonstrated the United States was the ';kingpin'; of rights abuse. The secretive state’s horror at the NSA’s actions, conflicts slightly with rights groups and defectors who have long accused the North of brutal totalitarian practices. These include suppression of dissent, the operation of a ...
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StanChart plans 1 billion yuan bond in Taiwan -sources
Standard Chartered is planning to sell a 1 billion yuan bond in Taiwan, two brokerage sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in the second such bond to be issued by a global bank. The Asia-focused bank is set to apply for approval for the issue from Taiwan regulators later this month, targeting retail investors, the sources said, who asked not be identified as the matter is yet to ...
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Kim Jong-un ‘pictured with luxury yacht’ in N Korea
Kim Jong-il loved his yacht so much he was apparently buried with it. Now Kim Jong-un has shown he shares his father’s penchant for a luxury cruiser, reportedly displaying a gleaming GBP 4.5 million vessel in spite of international sanctions. The North Korean leader recently used a 95-foot Princess yacht to navigate the country’s east coast during a 10-day official tour, according ...
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N Korea leader ‘gives Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ to officials’
North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un has reportedly given copies of Adolf Hitler’s ';Mein Kampf'; to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual. Kim handed out translations of the German dictator’s manifesto to select officials at the time of his birthday in January, reported New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean ...
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Phillip Lim creates new logo for China
The New York City-based designer has produced a brandmark as part of an ongoing dispute over the brand’s name in China. Winner of this year’s CFDA award for Accessories Designer of the Year, designer Phillip Lim’s 3.1 Phillip Lim label has unveiled a new brandmark for the collections sold in China. According to the company, it’s part of a strategy to fight a ';a ...
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China’s Xi in ‘thorough clean-up’ of party media
President Xi Jinping is to launch a ';thorough clean-up'; of the ruling Communist Party, state media reported Tuesday, the latest strongly-worded anti-corruption drive to be enacted by China’s new leader. The ';upcoming year-long campaign'; will target what the Xinhua news agency described as ';undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism, laxity and ...
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China Swaps Surge as Cash Squeeze Sees Demand Wane at Debt Sale
China’s one-year interest-rate swap rose by the most in 22 months as the central bank refrained from adding funds to the financial system to ease a cash squeeze, causing demand to fall at a government debt auction. The finance ministry’s sale of 30 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) of 10-year bonds today drew bids for 1.43 times the amount on offer, the least since August 2012. The ...
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China N Korea holding strategic talks following tensions North’s offer of talks with US
A top North Korean negotiator has arrived at China’s Foreign Ministry for strategic talks following a rough patch in relations between the communist allies and Pyongyang’s surprise weekend call for dialogue with the US North Korean First vice Foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan was expected to discuss bilateral relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula with Chinese vice Foreign ...
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GM Says China Luxury Vehicle Demand Slower Than Expected
General Motors Co. (GM), which broke ground on a new Cadillac assembly plant in China today, forecast demand for luxury autos will grow at a slower pace than the total vehicle market this year. Sales of premium cars in China will probably increase about 4 percent this year, or about half the pace that the automaker had expected at the start of the year, Bob Socia, GM’s China head, said ...
Brunei Featured
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New Focus on Brunei's Schools
Brunei has an education system to be proud of, which has made the recent discovery of dirty and badly maintained toilet facilities at 180 schools all the more unacceptable for the Ministry of Education.
Brunei has one of the best systems of education in the region. As a country, Brunei spends over 10% of its government budget on education, among children in the country there is a 99% literary rate, and schooling for all citizens is free (while foreign residents pay only a small charge). Read more
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