Triads See Underworld Business Hurt by Hong Kong Protests

As thousands of pro-democracy protesters thronged Hong Kong’s major retail and business districts, blocking roads and forcing shops to close, it wasn’t just legal establishments feeling the pain.

Bloomberg Link

You Could Make $50,000 Selling Your Luxury Bag Online

Two years ago, Marie Green, a San Diego fashion stylist, was running out of closet space. She was spending $12,000 to $20,000 a year on high-end clothing, handbags, and shoes -- but couldn’t wear it all. Then she discovered the RealReal, an online reseller of luxury clothing and accessories.

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China's high-end car dealers go online in search of second-hand income

A government campaign in China against the high pricing of luxury cars is hitting the profit margins of auto dealers, prompting them to supplement income through the online trading of second-hand vehicles.

Reuters

China’s Plan for Regional Development Bank Runs Into U.S. Opposition

For almost a year, China has been pitching an idea to its neighbors in Asia: a big, internationally funded bank that would offer quick financing for badly needed transportation, telecommunications and energy projects in underdeveloped countries across the region.
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Hong Kong's 'silent majority' critical of protests

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Why personal secretaries to Chinese leaders are so prone to graft

The job of personal secretary to a senior leader offers ample opportunity to advance in the system and use great influence for corrupt gain

Biography of Emperor Hirohito a whitewash: US historian Herbert Bix

Herbert Bix, the respected US historian and author of Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, has launched a withering criticism of the Imperial Household Agency for attempting to whitewash the emperor’s responsibility for the Second World War.

Hirohito a string-puller, not puppet

Last month, I received a startling e-mail from an employee at one of Japan’s largest newspapers, about a development I’d long awaited.

Precious stones and metals dealers to report cash transactions above S$20,000

A cash transaction reporting regime for precious stones and metals dealers (PSMDs) will be implemented in Singapore from Oct 15.

Court denies woman permission to divorce before completing mandatory 3-year period of marriage

Judge rules that she has insufficient grounds to do so before 3-year mark

Hwa Chong student calls sex-ed booklet by Christian group "bigoted”

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Umbrella Generation: Hong Kong's despairing youth split with old guard

Hong Kong's unprecedented student-led democracy rallies have highlighted a stark divide between a disenfranchised younger generation who say they have little to lose, and an older guard who favour pragmatism over protest.
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The umbrella revolution won’t give Hong Kong democracy. Protesters should stop calling for it.

This is about inequality, not politics, so democracy can't fix the problem.
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Man accused of sexually harassing protester vows to sue Occupy leaders and Apple Daily

A restaurant owner accused of sexually harassing a young female protester may try to sue the organisers of Occupy Central.

Patten aides ‘offered UK passport to Jimmy Lai’

Is Jimmy Lai Britain's MI6 agent?

US Now Admits it is Funding Hong Kong "Occupy Central"

Just as the US admitted shortly after the so-called "Arab Spring" began spreading chaos across the Middle East that it had fully funded, trained, and equipped both mob leaders and heavily armed terrorists years in advance, it is now admitted that the US State Department through a myriad of organizations and NGOs is behind the so-called "Occupy Central" protests in Hong Kong.

US wants to recolonize Hong Kong.

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China ‘unlikely’ to give in to HK protesters: Shanmugam

Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam also pointed out the anti-China bias in Western media reports, and urged the people of Hong Kong to consider the implications of a change from the Basic Law.

Evil US Government behind Hong Kong Protests

Previous cables show links between United States agencies and the Hong Kong protest movement

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Shoppers’ paradise on Hainan Island gives Hong Kong a run for its money

Massive mall on Hainan is drawing away from city mainlanders keen to snap up luxury goods at duty-free prices while enjoying beach holiday

British White Trash James George Palin

James George Palin punched and shattered the window of a Volkswagen, in a road rage incident on Nov 16 2013, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail yesterday. But Briton James George Palin, 33, is appealing against the sentence and is out on $15,000 bail.

Graft crackdown has paralysed China’s energy industry

Battle against corruption has hit the workings of the state energy sector to such an extent that decisions are becoming torturously slow

Chinese internet regulator sacked and expelled from party over graft

Gao Jianyun was official in high-level taskforce chaired by President Xi Jinping

China's CITIC wins interim injunction in Mineralogy dispute

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Clive Palmer's Mineralogy bid to curtail CITIC rights halted by court

But Justice James Edelman said it was a grave concern that Mineralogy had issued notices to CITIC just days after giving an undertaking not to do so. “The spirit of those undertakings were not abided by,” he said.
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China's anti-graft drive puts the squeeze on Macau junkets

Macau's casino junket operators are feeling the squeeze as China's anti-corruption drive has blown a hole in the world's biggest gambling hub. Some are shifting players elsewhere, like the Philippines and Vietnam; others are quitting the business.
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Luck running out for Singapore's two casinos?

Singapore's two casinos have encountered slowing growth lately, partly due to a more tepid economic outlook. But the root of the sector's problem remains the Government's heavy hand in the industry.

Have Singapore’s casinos lost their mojo?

Singapore's casinos opened their doors in 2010 with great expectations for the market's potential growth, but some analysts believe the party may be over.
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The 14 Most Breathtaking Places To Visit In China

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The tale of Alibaba and GSK a sign of China’s rise on world stage

Alibaba’s successful IPO and GSK’s record fine for bribery highlight China’s new global clout

PLA reshuffle strengthens Xi Jinping’s hand in corruption fight

Two key ‘princelings’ are set for promotion as president targets corruption and aims to turn world’s largest army into a battle-ready force

China’s VAT reform to impact developers in cooling market

Property and construction sectors likely to see introduction of 11pc value added tax next July, forcing them to overhaul business practices

Defiant Singaporeans watch banned political documentary in Malaysia

To Singapore, With Love Hundreds of defiant Singaporeans protesting censorship gathered in Malaysia to see a documentary banned by regulators in their home country as a threat to national security.

GSK Statement of Apology to the People of China - Full Text

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China fines British drugmaker GSK $489 million, jails ex-China head

Reuters

Reuters

Jiaozi Snow Mountain

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Wine investors demand refund after firm's 'empty promises'

This company was previously known as the Australian Wine  Index. Same people just different company name now. Run by Australian crooks. People in the wine industry would know the many horrible stories in AWI last few years. Some couldn't even withdraw their own wines from AWI.

World War III Will Erupt over Sea Disputes

A Chinese state-controlled newspaper has run an opinion piece by a military expert urging Beijing to develop its naval forces, for a third world war might break out over sea disputes, with China on the frontlines.
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Iron ore miners battle for survival as ‘perfect storm’ hits

High-cost Australian miners are battling for survival as plunging iron ore prices push many to breaking point, with analysts seeing no significant short-term recovery as Chinese demand for steel wanes in line with sliding property prices.

'Forced labor' rife in Malaysian electronics factories

Nearly a third of some 350,000 workers in Malaysia's electronics industry - a crucial link in the international consumer supply chain - suffer from conditions of modern-day slavery such as debt bondage, according to a study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Snowden: NSA collects mass data on New Zealanders

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QS world university rankings 2014

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Are Australian Properties Marketed Truthfully to Singapore Investors?

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Senior officials told to quit EMBAs as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive

Three senior officials halt course at top Shanghai business school, which can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year, over fears fee payments may lead to bribery, Beijing Times reports

Tougher mainland scrutiny of foreign teachers after child sex scandal fears

Teachers in China face checks and need five years’ experience after one foreign teacher had criminal record for child pornography and another was on the run from child-sex charges

Lai Siu Chiu recounts her four decades in law

She was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court in 1991, the first female to hold the post and also the youngest at the time.

US and UK spy agencies ‘have access to German telecoms’

US and British intelligence services are able to secretly access information from German telecoms operators, according to a German newspaper report.

Shanghai civil service rolls out non-Apple smartphone programme

Coolpad, a domestic manufacturer, is chosen for replacement programme aimed at boosting security.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported last year on leaked documents from the US National Security Administration that claimed the NSA had built a backdoor in Apple software that allowed data to be sent or retrieved from handsets.

Segway files suit against copycats

Segway, maker of the self-balancing “people mover” that has struggled to expand beyond a niche market since its splashy debut 13 years ago, is suing its growing number of imitators.

Rethink urged as Singapore bans documentary about political exiles

Censors’ decision on documentary about people who fled the nation from the 1960s to the 1980s draws calls from artists and activists for U-turn

Tan Pin Pin's film To Singapore, With Love not to be shown in public

Tan Pin Pin's film To Singapore, With Love not to be shown in public

Shui On Land leads with 30pc price cuts to woo homebuyers in Chengdu

Shanghai-based developer Shui On Land slashed the price of a residential project in Chengdu by 30 per cent to speed up sales, Chinese media reported on Friday.

Yahoo describes secret court battle with US government over surveillance

Yahoo said on Thursday that the US government threatened to fine the company US$250,000 a day if it did not comply with demands to go along with an expansion of US surveillance by surrendering online information, a step the company regarded as unconstitutional.

Bureaucracy may be wing chun kung fu master’s biggest foe

Ip Chun has helped the martial art pioneered by his father, Yip Man, thrive. But help from the authorities has been severely lacking.

Cutting executive pay at state-owned firms only part of Beijing’s plan

Hu Shuli says the reform will rationalise the roles of the many employees who are both official and executive, amid overall restructuring

7 great restaurants in Singapore that open till late

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New generation of Chinese tycoons putting good causes before money

We begin a fortnightly series profiling the mainland’s economic elite by looking at the China Entrepreneur Club, where their voices can be heard

White Trash Peter Aaron Jeremicjczyk charged with hitting woman singer

An Australian expat, Peter Aaron Jeremicjczyk, was charged in court yesterday for allegedly punching a local jazz singer in the face.

Highly anticipated plans to reform China’s rigid national university entrance exam unveiled

Proposals, to be tested by Shanghai and Zhejiang students in 2017, means admissions will rely less on two-day exam, and more on regular high school tests, Ministry of Education says.

Sacrebleu! French drinkers admit they know little about wine

To the French, wine is more than just a drink. They make it, they quaff large quantities of it and they produce some of the finest in the world. It is officially designated part of the nation’s cultural and gastronomic heritage.

China's Xi urges army to create strategy for information warfare

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UN issues fresh call to Japan over WWII 'comfort women'

A UN watchdog issued a fresh call Friday to Japan to take full blame for forcing women from Korea and elsewhere in Asia to work as sex slaves during World War II.
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Productivity goes negative as China slips towards middle-income trap

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China property launches to deepen inventory overhang, price declines

Property launches in China are set to surge in the latter half of the year with developers sticking to their schedules despite mounting inventories, spelling double trouble for a market hammered by months of falling prices.

Corrupt Chinese hiding in Western nations elude Beijing's 'fox hunt'

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Australian billionaire politician apologizes for TV tirade over China

Australian mining magnate and politician Clive Palmer has apologized to China's ambassador to Australia for a tirade in which he referred to the Chinese government as "bastards", setting off a firestorm in Canberra and Beijing.

Reuters Link

AP Link

The Gulf of Tonkin episode and the misuse of power

That and other cases raise fears about how a future US president may use military muscle

Big foreign worker dorms faring poorly

Construction firms choosing cheaper option of housing workers on site

Chinese tourists suffering from Paris-syndrome sickness

Grittier side of Paris falls short of their romanticised ideal

Chinese seek freedom, edge at US high schools

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China's elite tighten their belts as crackdown bites

China's big spenders are reining in overt shows of wealth, shelving shopping trips in Hong Kong and Macau gambling sprees in the face of the Communist Party's anti-corruption and frugality drive, analysts say.
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Diaoyu Islands: The Truth

 

 

CIA concedes it spied on U.S. Senate investigators, apologizes

The CIA conceded on Thursday that it had improperly monitored computers used by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in an investigation of interrogation tactics and secret prisons for terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Central Intelligence Agency spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement that the agency's inspector general had determined that "some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent" with an understanding between the agency and the Senate panel.
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CIA director John Brennan lied to you and to the Senate. Fire him.

Private apologies are not enough for a defender of torture, the architect of America’s drone program and the most talented liar in Washington. The nation’s top spy needs to go.
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Osaka police hide 81,000 crimes to clean up image

Osaka police have admitted they did not report more than 81,000 offences over a period of several years in a desperate bid to clean up the region's woeful reputation for street crime.
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Karting track to be built inside Turf Club

It’ll be first permanent CIK- certified facility here, able to hold international races

Japan Rejects UN Call to Take Responsibility for Wartime Sexual Slavery

Japan has rejected a call by the UN's human rights watchdog that it should accept full blame for pressing Asian women into wartime sexual slavery in military brothels, in what was clearly the largest case of human trafficking in the 20th century.
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UN watchdog urges Japan to accept blame for 'comfort women'

The United Nations has called on Japan to accept full blame for pressing women from Korea and other Asian nations into sexual slavery during World War II.
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U.N. panel tells Japan to compensate 'comfort women'

A United Nations human rights agency is calling on Japan to guarantee independent investigations of wartime sex slavery and provide a public apology and compensation to the women who were victims.
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China commerce minister chastises US after WTO victory

China's commerce minister hit out at the United States on Thursday, urging it not to be a "rule-breaker" after the World Trade Organization (WTO) handed Beijing initial victory in a trade dispute.
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Magnate allays fears of Iskandar building glut

This comes against a backdrop of roll-out of mammoth projects by big Chinese developers

Why complicate the COE system even more?

130 hp power limit for Cat A too complex to implement

US law still reigns supreme in global economy

Some bristle at BNP Paribas fine and Fatca but are helpless in face of worldwide use of greenback

Bruised and grumbling, foreign banks bend to U.S. rules

Financiers may grumble that the United States is acting like an imperial power in punishing foreign banks for dealings far beyond U.S. territory, but in the end they are more likely to bow to Washington than kick against its dollar muscle.

In an expletive-charged broadside, the executive was quoted as saying: "You ... Americans! Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians?"

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‘Bamboo ceiling’ hampering Asians in Australia

A “bamboo ceiling” exists in Australia for Asians entering positions of power in business, education and politics, the country’s race discrimination commissioner has suggested.

Part of Unit 731 War Crimes Museum, with evidence of human experimentation, to open next year

The research lab where biological warfare was tested during the second Sino-Japanese war is being cleared in Harbin, Heilongjiang province

Is Batu Pahat in Johor the next Iskandar?

Developing the area could signify the northward expansion of the Singapore-Johor megalopolis

10 Best Places to Eat in Malacca

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Snowden effect changes US-China dynamic on cybersecurity

The whistle-blower’s revelations of the extent of NSA spying gave Beijing a stronger hand in negotiations on the issue of cybersecurity

Don't text and drive

Unsold homes big drag on developers' coffers

Punishing fees seen incentivising some to reprice projects to move sales in near term

Virginia’s “comfort women” memorial reveals Asian tensions

In Virginia, US, a memorial dedicated to “comfort women” reveals that Asian Americans are not all quite so ready to forgive and forget.

An Open Letter to the Prime Minster

I had thought to keep quiet during this period of political transition while watching events unfold. But what is happening currently has perturbed me enough to want to do another commentary. I have cast it in the form of a direct letter to the PM, to convey a greater sense of urgency.

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For One Tiananmen-Era Student, a Very Different Path to Power

A few days after the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests 25 years ago, the Chinese government filled the airwaves with a list of the 21 most wanted student leaders accused of stirring up an antigovernment rebellion. At the top of the list was a 20-year-old student at Peking University named Wang Dan, who set up an unofficial student union to mobilize his classmates to demand democracy.

Slump in China’s wine market forces shake-out, rethink

The sudden slowdown in wine sales to the mainland is forcing merchants to refine their sales strategies, attendees at last week’s Vinexpo trade show in Hong Kong said.

Documents show Japan complicit in WWII sex slavery

Activists said Monday they had a trove of documents proving the Japanese military was complicit in the wartime system of sex slavery, despite nationalist quibbles over responsibility.
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US network NBC 'cut Snowden remarks' on 9/11 and US spy agencies

Russia's state-backed broadcaster said NBC "neglected" to air "critical statements" Edward Snowden made about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks during an exclusive interview.

Oliver Stone: 'America always wins'

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Luxury homes left empty in quiet market

Sector hardest-hit by property curbs; some sellers leasing out units instead

China Vanke says property sector’s ‘golden era’ over, demand outlook solid

The days of rapid growth in China’s real estate sector are over, but the government’s urbanisation drive will continue to drive demand for the next 15 years, the country’s biggest residential property developer China Vanke Co Ltd said.

大国崛起