Archives: July 2009

Why Korean Tech Firms Make Money But Japanese Tech Firms Don't

Posted by: Kenji Hall on July 31

Take a look at first-quarter earnings released yesterday for Sony and Sharp. They can be summed up in a word: dismal. Though Sony and Sharp announced results that weren't as...

Shanghai Stock Market: Bubble Days are here again

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 29

How do you spell stock market bubble? S-H-A-N-G-H-A-I. China’s main share market is up 80% this year, and some IPOs have skyrocketed several times their offer price on the first...

Japan Wants To Build Medical Tourism Market

Posted by: Kenji Hall on July 27

Japan's government has come up with a not-so-new idea for creating jobs in its healthcare sector: competing for medical tourists against Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and India. For months, a...

Rioting Chinese Steel Workers Kill Boss Over Layoffs

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 27

Some 30,000 angry Chinese workers staged a riot at a steel factory in China that resulted in its boss getting beaten to death, underscoring just how quickly economic problems can...

Shanghai Pushes "Two Child" Population Policy

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 24

Here's a twist on baby boomers: China's longstanding "One Child" population control policy is being relaxed by the city of Shanghai in a bid to boost a higher birth rate...

Hyundai Posts Record Earnings amid Recession

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on July 23

Hyundai Motor pulled off a coup, posting a record quarterly profit in the three months ended in June while the global auto industry is moaning in the worst slump in...

LG Electronics Earnings Beat Expectations

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on July 22

South Korea’s LG Electronics reported a record quarterly profit in the three months ended in June as it kept gaining market share in the global mobile phone and TV industries...

Shanghai World Expo Says "No" to Tobacco Sponsor

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 21

Organizers of the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 have canceled a sponsorship deal for the China pavilion by Chinese cigarette maker Shanghai Tobacco in response to outcry by China's growing...

Hillary in Indian Climate Change Standoff

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on July 20

Talk about a rough start. On a three-day visit to India, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jostled with India’s environment minister for her suggestion that India consider curbs...

China Spy Charges Against Rio Tinto's Hu Relaxed

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 20

The case involving Chinese allegations of espionage against four Rio Tinto employees, including Australian Stern Hu in Shanghai appears to have taken a new turn that may help diffuse tensions...

Deadly Terrorist Bombs in Islamic Indonesia

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 17

The terrorists behind the bloody bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta today have delivered a major blow to the reputation of this Southeast...

Steven Spielberg May Get $825 million, Including $325 million from India's Anil Ambani.

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on July 16

The unlikely partnership between Anil Ambani, of India’s Reliance- ADAG empire, and Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director and DreamWorks studio head, finally took form July 16, with Ambani, Walt Disney...

China Surprisingly Strong GDP Growth 7.9%

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 16

China’s GDP growth clocked an impressive 7.9% in the second quarter, surpassing economists expectations about the Chinese economic recovery. There is even now talk of a V-shaped recovery, which just...

Opposition-Led Government Would Be Mixed For Japan Inc.

Posted by: Kenji Hall on July 13

Prime Minister Taro Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party has ruled Japan for nearly the entire post-World World 2 era. But the LDP may soon find itself out of power. On July...

Honda to launch Fit and CR-Z hybrids in 2010, plans larger hybrids

Posted by: Ian Rowley on July 13

Back in May I reported that Honda had brought forward the launch date for a hybrid version of its popular Fit subcompact to late 2010. It seems the rumors were...

U.S. Pavilion in Shanghai Expo Confirmed

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 11

The U.S. signed a deal with organizers of China's Shanghai 2010 Expo on July 10 to build a U.S. pavilion at the world's fair, putting to an end speculation about...

China Detains Rio Tinto Workers

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 09

While the world’s media are rightly focusing on the brutal ethnic clashes in Xinjiang, the arrest of a handful of people thousands of miles away from Urumqi could end being...

Is North Korea Behind Cyber Attacks?

Posted by: Ihlwan Moon on July 09

It’s easy to blame North Korea for nasty attacks on the global community. After all it is an international bogeyman facing sanctions by the U.N. for undertaking nuclear and missile...

Las Vegas Sands May Raise $2 billion in Hong Kong

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 08

Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands (LVS) could raise $2 billion to finance its Macao operations through a Hong Kong IPO soon, said Michael Leven, company president and CEO. He...

China's Yuan No. 3 Global Currency by 2012

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 07

The Chinese yuan could overtake the Japanese yen to become the third most important international currency used in trade by 2012. Or so HSBC economist Qu Hongbin thinks. That's...

China's Muslim West Racked by Deadly Protests

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on July 06

It’s the worst ethnic violence in China since last March’s Tibet uprising. On Monday, China reported that at least 140 people had been killed and 828 injured in riots Sunday...

China National Petroleum Corp in $17 Billion Argentina Oil Bid

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on July 03

More news out showing China is serious about picking up overseas assets to meet its surging energy and resource needs. This time, a report published yesterday in the Hong Kong-based...

China Censorship: After the Green Dam Fiasco

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 01

It's not often that opponents of Internet censorship get to celebrate a victory of the Chinese government. Today's one of those rare occasions. The official Xinhua news agency reported last...

Pepsi in China Sponsors U.S. Shanghai Expo Pavilion

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 01

PepsiCo (PEP) announced today it is spending $5 million in China to sponsor the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, joining 3M (MMM) and General Electric (GE) Pepsi chairman...