Saturday 8 November 2008

BP Quits Wind Power Project in China

BP has backed out of a wind energy joint venture in Inner Mongolia, citing the need to reassess its strategy in light of the financial turmoil.

Sichuan Star Falls on Finance Charge

Xie Bing was a model businesswoman until she was charged with illegal, high-interest borrowing from the public.

Temasek Bond Risk Rises on Concern of Casino Rescue

Default protection costs on Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, rose on concern the government may guarantee completion of Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s $4 billion casino project in the city-state.

Las Vegas Sands signals it may not survive downturn

Casino company’s shares tumble on bankruptcy fears

Debunking the megapixel myth

It’s not the number of megapixels but the size of your camera’s sensor that counts.

Fucking Japs Airmen Disagree with War Apology


With many Japs holding important positions in Japan still thinking they did no wrong to us, how can we forgive and forget? Fuck the Japs - let us help liberate them. We nuke them one more time to stone age.

Sands gives reassurance

The top suit behind troubled casino operator Las Vegas Sands met the Singapore authorities this week, and yesterday gave a fresh commitment to completing the Marina Bay integrated resort (IR).

Friday 7 November 2008

China helps the world by helping itself first

As much of the world continues to move towards a recession that many fear will be deep and prolonged, eyes are increasingly turning to rising China in the hope that it can, somehow, help the rest of the world in its moment of need. Thus, The Economist reported that ‘China Moves to Centre Stage’, while Time magazine asked, ‘Can Chinese Cash Save the World’s Banks?’

Temasek’s Aussie investment goes under


Childcare operator ABC Learning Centres goes into receivership

Once Sizzling, China’s Economy Shows Rapid Signs of Fizzling

Each new forecast of China’s economic fortunes predicts slower growth than the forecast that preceded it.

Chen Shui-bian's family members grilled in court in money-laundering case

Former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian’s family members were questioned yesterday in connection with the continuing money-laundering scandal, court officials said.

DPP backers in bloody clashes with police

Dozens injured as protesters hurl rocks, bricks and full water bottles in Taipei streets

Protesters in Taiwan clash with riot police


Barbaric DPP supporters show us what kind of insects they are.

Taiwan DPP Scumbags Attacked Policemen


Injured police wait beside an ambulance after clashing with protesters in Taipei

Adult hotel opened in Nanning

An employee demonstrates how to use the facilities in a hotel room for adults in Nanning, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, November 6, 2008. The hotel has attracted lots of customers with each of the rooms furnished with a red bed with straps, an adult chair and a gym ball, while the owner is a little worried the hotel might be perceived as a brothel.




More giving up luxury timepieces

High-fliers strapped for cash flocking to second-hand dealers

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou meets ARATS chief



Chief of mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chen Yunlin (L) presents a painting of horse to Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan Province, Nov. 6, 2008.

Sands at Risk of Violating Covenants

Ailing casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. warned it could violate debt covenants and its ability to continue in business is in “substantial doubt” if it doesn’t succeed in raising new capital to ease mounting financial pressure.

Las Vegas Sands Chief Adelson Said to Hold Talks With Singapore

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who controls Las Vegas Sands Corp., held talks with the Singapore government this week as the casino company struggled with a cash shortage that threatens a $4 billion casino development there, a person with knowledge of the meetings said.

Funds May Favour U.S. Stocks Over Asia, Merrill Says

Fund managers may favour U.S. stocks over Asian equities in coming months on expectation Barack Obama’s administration will introduce measures to revive the world’s largest economy, Merrill Lynch & Co. said.

HSI Put Warrant G1AW - Hourly


Looks like my earlier 0.550-0.600 target is achievable.

Thursday 6 November 2008

China's Economic Numbers

Home prices forecast to fall sharply in 2 years

The slumping economy and the credit crunch have prompted Morgan Stanley to further lower its forecast for Hong Kong residential property prices, and it now expects them to fall 20 per cent over the next 12 months.

Bank Bubble Chart

Barbaric and Disgraceful Acts from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Taiwan


Since the DPP supporters behave like disgusting insects, then KMT and the police should treat DPP as such - trash the DPP supporters as you would step on cockroaches.

SGX to Launch Extended Settlement Contracts

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will launch Extended Settlement (ES) contracts on Jan 23 next year, aimed at expanding the range of equity products available to investors.

Local hedge funds battered, but two thrive amid the wreckage

Interest from US institutions not hit by crisis offers hope

Racial barrier falls as change comes to America

Obama sweeps to victory as markets, war, demographics produce an electoral earthquake

How internal battles divided the McCain and Palin camps

China rock star arrested

Zang Tianshuo, 44, a household name in China, runs a bar in in northern Hebei province, near Beijing, which had been investigated over several gang fights in the stability-obsessed capital, Xinhua news agency said.

Kunming Airlines to launch in January 2009

Kunming Airlines (昆明航空公司) announced that it will launch its first flights in January of next year, according to Kunming media reports.

Citigroup, FerroChina Creditors, Said to Form Asset Sale Plan

Citigroup Inc. and Citadel Investment Group LLC are among foreign creditors forming a plan to seize and sell the assets of FerroChina Ltd., a Chinese steelmaker that owes about $1 billion, three people involved in the matter said.

‘Go East’

China Inc recruiting in gloomy London, New York

Taiwan: 5-Minute Historic Meeting


A highly anticipated meeting between Taiwan’s leader and a Chinese envoy has lasted only five minutes.

Temasek's A$400m investment in ABC Learning bites the dust

ABC Learning Centres Ltd., the world’s largest child care operator, was seized by its lenders after the global credit crisis forced up the cost of servicing its debt, which jumped almost 20 times over a three-year buying spree.

Peugeot cuts China jobs as sales slip


French car giant PSA Peugeot Citroen has cut 1,000 temporary staff at its Chinese venture after sales declined.

Shock new Focus shows its face


Radical new nose and efficient petrol engines for MkIII model

Election Hangover: Traders Selling News of Obama's Victory

Potential Short List

Indo Agri, China Hongxing, Yangzijiang, Cosco, Ezra, First Resources, Noble, Olam, AusGroup, Yanlord, Kep Corp, Wilmar and SGX.

HSI Put Warrant G1AW - Hourly


Indicators pointing towards 0.550 - 0.600.

Profitable Affiliates Sidetrack Rail System

Jumbled affiliates working with China’s huge railway network generate big profits and, auditors say, bad business.

Five Tips for Surviving in 2008

With global markets in turmoil and investors running very scared, we give a list of our biggest investment recommendations for the rest of 2008.

Obama’s China Policy: More of the Same?

Precisely how president-elect Barack Obama will shape U.S. policy toward China remains unclear in many respects.

Taiwan, China plan to build on historic agreements: officials

Taiwan and China plan to build on historical pacts that narrow the distance between the former enemies with comprehensive economic, trade and financial cooperation, the two sides said Wednesday.

NYSE Chief Invites Chinese IPOs in 2009

The head of the New York exchange assured Chinese firms that the coming year holds promise, despite a U.S. recession.

Death Verdict for a Beijing Bribery Career


Liu Zhihua had a hand in Beijing projects from a museum to Olympics venues while developers greased his palm.

126mph police chase before crash


A police car pursuing a vehicle which crashed after being driven the wrong way down a motorway was travelling at up to 126mph, an inquest has heard.

Wednesday 5 November 2008

Wall Street’s extreme sport: Financial engineering


The current economic turmoil, it seems, is an implicit indictment of the arcane field of financial engineering — a blend of mathematics, statistics and computing. Its practitioners devised not only the exotic, mortgage-backed securities that proved so troublesome, but also the mathematical models of risk that suggested these securities were safe.

China reacts cautiously to Barack Obama’s win

Chinese leaders congratulated Barack Obama on his election as US president but remained carefully neutral about how they saw his triumph.

Microsoft retires Windows 3.11 on 18th birthday


Windows 3.11 sounds like a dinosaurs to me now.

QFII showed bigger appetite for A-shares in Q3

Qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) expanded their A-share portfolios in China by 22.92 percent in the third quarter, reflecting greater overseas confidence in the country’s equities market, the China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

Some Trend-Following Funds Are Winners in Rough Market

Chasing the latest market fad isn’t all bad.

No time for laurels; now the hard part starts

No president since before Barack Obama was born has ascended to the Oval Office confronted by the accumulation of seismic challenges awaiting him. Historians grasping for parallels point to Abraham Lincoln taking office as the nation was collapsing into Civil War, or Franklin D. Roosevelt arriving in Washington in the throes of the Great Depression.

Great Quotes from Great Leaders

Video

China deals welcomed


Historic agreements on closer economic ties between Taiwan and China were welcomed on Wednesday by business leaders as a great opportunity for growth, but ordinary workers said they feared for their future.

Barack Obama Wins Historic Presidential Contest

Now is no time to buy flats, says Stanley Ho, as sales fall by 18pc

Tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun yesterday advised against buying flats, while the latest statistics showed the number of property sales last month fell by almost 18 per cent.

Jobless fears stalk China

Short of food and running low on cash, a group of men huddled under a bridge in Beijing and waited for someone, anyone to come by and offer them work, any work.

27-year-old tycoon charged with fraud

Prosecutors in Jinhua , Zhejiang province , have formally charged a 27-year-old businesswoman who built a paper fortune by illegally raising money through fraud.

Growing trend of cross-border marriages leaves more HK women on the shelf

The number of cross-border marriages fell last year, but more Hong Kong women are staying single.

Young men hit by libido woes

Here’s some bad news for guys: More Singapore men, some as young as 30, are suffering from loss of sexual interest or function. The reason? They may be testosterone-deficient.

27-year-old tycoon charged with fraud

Prosecutors in Jinhua , Zhejiang province , have formally charged a 27-year-old businesswoman who built a paper fortune by illegally raising money through fraud.

Workers win payout fight after factory closure

Dongguan handed out another 7 million yuan (HK$7.9 million) yesterday to nearly 4,000 unpaid footwear factory workers abandoned by their Taiwanese boss amid a wave of factory closures in the once-booming Guangdong manufacturing hub.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

5 reasons why McCain will lose

Our Endorsement for Barack Obama

World hopes for a ‘less arrogant America’

A world weary of eight years of George W. Bush was riveted Tuesday by the drama unfolding in the United States. Many were inspired by Barack Obama’s focus on hope, or simply relieved that – whoever wins – the current administration is coming to an end.

DBS Bank fails to reply to some investors’ complaints within 48 hours

“Total silence is not acceptable. While the timing is within 48 hours, I accept that there will be lapses due to the volume because you can’t process hundreds of cases within 48 hours, but that is the target you aim.”

Current financial crisis explained in simple terms

Starring cheque book man, office lady and LV salesman.

The Rising Risk of a Hard Landing in China: The Two Engines of Global Growth – U.S. and China – are Now Stalling

Nouriel Roubini

Chinese emperor was poisoned with arsenic


One of the great mysteries surrounding the collapse of the Chinese empire may have been solved by scientific tests suggesting the last emperor but one was poisoned with arsenic.

Discover the 90/10 Principle

It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations). What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

Limit coffee for a healthy baby

Pregnant women should keep consumption of coffee, tea and cola to a minimum, according to a study published on Monday that sees a link between caffeine intake and low birth weight among babies.

China top target for PC attacks

Chinese computer users have become chief targets for online criminals, according to a security report released on Monday by Microsoft.

More Bacteria on Women?

A new US study has found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody was found to have more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.

US bill collectors get tough

After several years in which Americans were buying stuff on credit they could not afford, a rapidly increasing number are complaining about getting harassed and abused by bill collectors.

Trade debt rules seen as check on capital outflows

Mainland companies must register their claims to debts arising from overseas trade, the foreign exchange regulator said, in an apparent move to tighten controls and prevent capital outflows from the country.

E3 to thrash out future of CEO, chairman today

Shareholders of troubled E3 Holdings are meeting this morning to thrash out the fate of the company’s management. Also at stake is over $26 million that has been sent to China to support the company’s investments there.

China may play vital repair role in global crisis

Beijing and the deep pockets of China Inc are emerging as potentially vital players to limit the economic damage from the worst global financial crisis in 80 years.

Blue Mountain Freezes $3.1 Billion Credit Hedge Fund

Blue Mountain Capital Management LLC froze its largest hedge fund after clients asked to pull a “meaningful percentage” of their money even as it outperformed the industry average by almost 10-fold this year.

Stabilization Fund Debated, But Who Would Run It?

Now the debate over whether the government should intervene in the market with stabilization fund is hotting up yet again.

Current Job Preference

Beijing, Taipei sign deals on trade, transit


Taiwan and the mainland on Tuesday signed a range of deals aimed at bringing the two sides closer economically, after almost 60 years of hostilities that often took them to the brink of war.

Beijing bamboozled by no-car-day numbers game

Beijing car owners, many apparently puzzled by no-driving days designated by the last digit of their licence numbers, now face revised rules which threaten even greater confusion.

Shanghai Super-fast Internet by 2009

Internet 50 or 100 times faster than current speeds will be available in Shanghai next year and cover 10 million families nationwide by 2010, government officials said yesterday.

Like 1997, but worse, say struggling Koreans

Belts being tightened to ride out downturn

China Carmakers Wield Axe on Staff and Salaries as Crisis Hurts Sales

Mainland carmakers, battered by slower sales in a weakening global economy, are cutting their staff, industry sources say.

Commodity slump could herald worst recession since 1981

A record plunge in commodities may signal the United States is headed for the longest recession since 1981, just after Ronald Reagan became president and the economy began a 16-month slump.

Steel demand to fall 5pc

Global steel demand will fall 5 per cent next year as the financial crisis tips economies into recession, curbing purchases of the metal, according to research company World Steel Dynamics.

Brain Slows at 40


That’s when people slow down and the body starts declining.
PDF

Fed’s currency-swap deals - monster in the making?

Bernanke’s decision to unfreeze markets in emerging nations raises questions

Save that email - and avoid legal headaches

When Ray Tomlinson created the email system in 1971, little did the programmer know that he would significantly impact the legal system through the discovery of electronic evidence for litigation cases across the world.

US Election Rally May Quickly Unwind In Singapore

There’s a fair chance we’ll discover the identity of the new U.S. President during the Asian trading day on Wednesday, so Asian markets may be the first to deliver their verdict on the outcome.

Next 4 Years

For year 2009 (ox) - water industry is bad
For year 2010 (tiger) - earth industry is bad
For year 2011 (rabbit) - earth industry is bad
For year 2012 (dragon) - water industry is bad

That means property is going to be fucked in 2010 and 2011. Gamblers going to the 2 casinos lose until got to sell properties?

Monday 3 November 2008

Hong Kong’s last governor says Bush is worst US president

Hong Kong’s last British colonial governor Chris Patten said in a radio interview on Monday that he thought President George W. Bush was the worst American president he had seen.

China Expects Upper-hand in Imminent Iron Ore Haggle

The annual negotiation for the next year’s iron ore supply contract will be launched in November. Steel industry representatives from China, Europe, and Japan will meet with the world’s three major iron ore mining giants to decide the long-term contract price for 2009. 

New Financial Crisis, Old Tactics

Although it is not expected that China will be anywhere near the largest victim in the current financial blow about, it may turn out to be the largest loser of opportunities. Before the crisis, China was actively promoting industrial transformation and the growth of domestic demand. Now, with the winds whipping through China’s tangible economy, these reforms are most likely to be delayed, maybe for years to come.

‘Leave money for kids but in secret’

Singapore’s rich, like Adam Khoo, don’t believe in spoiling kids with inheritance.

Woman dies after breast reduction surgery


Husband said she had always been concerned about her looks, and went for the surgery without telling her family.

Biosensors


Daily

Hourly

If breaks 0.275, then next stops are 0.370 and 0.440.
PV: P=0.260 R1=0.290 R2=0.305 R3=0.335

Debt agents calling on more credit card users

It indicates more people are unable to meet payments as crisis worsens

Money back for 50 elderly

Hong Leong will repay the first batch this week

Rio Chief Albanese Says Slowdown in China Is Gathering Pace

Rio Tinto Group Chief Executive Officer Tom Albanese said the economic slowdown in China, the world’s largest user of metals, is quickening and demand won’t rebound until 2009.

Broking research must adapt to prevailing conditions

In order to regain some of their lost credibility, researchers might want to try a different tack: instead of always telling customers just how much money they can make, analysts should also write about how much they can lose.

Obama vs McCain: Who's Better for the Markets?

Obama is the better able to bring about the changes that the financial markets need, says Eugene Ludwig, CEO of Promontory Financial. But Ron Ianieri, chief markets strategist at the Options University disagrees. They make their case to CNBC's Martin Soong.
Video

US Stocks: Stuck At the Bottom for Next 5 Years?

The U.S. markets may see sideways movement down at the bottom for the next 3 to 5 years, says Ron Ianieri, chief markets strategist at the Options University, as he has noted an "ABC" pattern to the charts. He tells CNBC's Martin Soong more.
Video

Citibank refuses to provide tape recordings of phone conversations

Citibank has declined to provide tape recordings of telephone conversations between its staff and people who were sold Lehman Brothers-related products, prompting a legislator to accuse the bank of breaking a promise.

Zeman becomes Chinese citizen

Mr Zeman, who is known as the “father” of the Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district and is also chairman of Ocean Park, said he decided to become a naturalised Chinese because he had lived and worked in Hong Kong for 38 years and always considered the city his home.

Europe’s banks show more financial frailty

Two of Europe’s big banks used newly relaxed EU accounting rules to boost their profits on Thursday while others took state cash and a top executive said he saw no ight at the end of the financial crisis tunnel.

China playing catch-up in global satellite arena

China will take as long as 10 years to compete as a major player in the commercial satellite launch industry despite recent milestone achievements in its space programme, according to an executive of the world’s largest company that sends commercial satellites into space.

Hongkong Electric invests in mainland wind farm projects

Hongkong Electric Holdings, the power supplier controlled by Li Ka-shing, has made its first investments on the mainland to capitalise on the country’s rising demand for renewable energy.

Yunnan Airport shortlists investors for deal

Bidders may pay up to US$900m for Kunming airfield stake, buy into operating firm

Small is the new big, says stockbrokers’ chief

With markets plunging around the world, being a stockbroker must rate as one of the toughest jobs at the moment. The Hang Seng Index has slumped more than 50 per cent in the past 12 months, a hair-raising experience for even the bravest of souls.

Signpost for dodging corporate minefield

A little over six years ago, two former top managers and an ex-chairman of listed retailer Zhengzhou Baiwen were handed suspended jail sentences and ordered to pay fines of up to 50,000 yuan (HK$56,700) for inflating the company’s profits.

Pray that markets are unduly pessimistic

There are two opposing ways of thinking about what is going on at the moment in financial markets. The first is that after all the deleveraging, panic-selling and forced liquidation of the last month, financial markets have overshot wildly.

Financial capitals unlikely to lose their clout

As New York and London continue to reel from the global financial crisis, pundits everywhere are confidently predicting a sharp decline in the relative financial importance of these two cities. Newer financial centres in the emerging world, they claim, especially newer Asian financial centres, will rise to wrest away their financial dominance. But history suggests that in fact the contrary will happen.

Exporters say tax rebates worthless with no buyers in sight

“We have been joking by saying that our biggest order this year will be pyjamas because many people in Europe and the US have lost their jobs and will spend more time at home.”

Luxury goods market feels pinch amid crisis

Designer brands pinning hopes on China may be undone by ‘girlfriend economics’

順子 - 回家



I like to run a wine bar with performers like her and crowd like this.

Sunday 2 November 2008

Have spare cash for investment opportunities

According to my study of the rich, I have discovered that they share something in common. They have what I would call an ‘opportunity fund’.

Gauges of investors’ moods can signal price direction


If there is one ray of hope to be glimpsed during the global stock market cascade, it may be the sense of hopelessness. Markets often reach lasting troughs when panic and despair pervade trading, and in recent weeks some indicators with successful histories of measuring those sentiments reached rare, sometimes unprecedented, extremes.

Worrying about another Asian financial crisis

The question zooming around markets is this: If the worst-case outlook plays out and the crisis continues, could Asia experience another 1997? Equally important, will investors know it when they see it?

Market Mood

In the past couple of weeks, the stock market has acted like a bottomless pit. In the unprecedented financial crisis, it has sunk in an atmosphere of panic. Neither fundamental nor technical analysis works in such an environment, and all the so-called support levels have been no help either.

Computer problems could be terminal

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the system?” Once upon a time this was a fairly common and fairly innocuous question. It meant nothing more than the need for some sort of administrative procedure. But in the banking world right now, this question has become a whole lot more sinister.

China’s Canton Fair suffers drop in attendance

China opened the final session of the Canton Fair – the country’s biggest trade show – on Sunday amid complaints that attendance has been dismal because of the financial crisis clobbering the nation’s biggest export markets in the U.S. and Europe.

Factory owners in delta considering a move back to HK

After nearly a decade running manufacturing businesses in the Pearl River Delta, some Hong Kong factory owners are considering moving back home as the global financial crisis bites deeper and mainland-Hong Kong cost differentials narrow.

Entrepreneur on a roll with high-rise bars

Despite having no experience when they opened their first bar six years ago, the three friends - Simon Choi Siu-man, John Choi Siu-kit and Mr Tam - behind the Shelter Census Group made a crucial decision at the outset: they chose to avoid Lan Kwai Fong in favour of high-rise venues in Causeway Bay.