Ant tribe: Fresh grads swarming into cities and living in poverty

Together the highly educated groups come to be called the “ant tribe,” a term coined by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggling young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, scramble to big cities in hope of a better life only to find low-paying jobs and poor living conditions.

Beijing ‘forced’ to develop missile interception system

China developed a missile interception system out of a sense of “forced action” because it perceived threats from other nations, a senior military official has revealed in a commentary written for a state-run magazine.

China’s Africa footprint: a makeover for Algeria

While still struggling with the aftermath of a decade-long Islamic insurgency, oil-rich yet impoverished Algeria is getting a makeover: a new airport, its first mall, its largest prison, 60,000 new homes, two luxury hotels and the longest continuous highway in Africa.

Confusion rules over curbs on ‘obscene’ texts

Plans to freeze mobile phone accounts responsible for sending “obscene” text messages are in confusion, with a Beijing provider yesterday announcing it would introduce the measure, while its Shanghai counterpart apparently issued a denial.

Party chief held after employing thugs in fatal land grab

The party chief of a Jiangsu village has been detained after hiring more than 200 armed thugs to forcibly evict farmers from their land to make way for a petrochemical factory, state media reported yesterday.

Rogers Says Shanghai, Hong Kong Property in Bubble, May Fall

Shanghai and Hong Kong property prices may fall after being driven higher by speculative demand, while the rest of the Chinese economy is “hardly in a bubble,” investor Jim Rogers said.

The Asian locomotive

As we emerge from the Great Recession, a new economic order is forming - one no longer dominated by wealthy nations

Time SGX moves to T+1, scraps contra

Ten years ago, on Dec 1, 1999, when the Singapore Exchange (SGX) was formed from a merger of the Stock Exchange of Singapore and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange or Simex, then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong announced at SGX’s inauguration that stockbroking commissions would become fully negotiable from Jan 1, 2001, that the settlement cycle for stocks would be shortened from T+5 to T+3 from March 15, 2000, and that the ultimate goal would be to move to T+1, where T is the transaction date. All this, it was said, was to ensure that the local market kept pace with fast-moving markets elsewhere.

UBS eyes bigger slice of China capital

UBS AG will soon apply for more quotas to invest in China’s capital markets on top of the US$800 million it is already permitted, as it is bullish about the stock market’s prospects, an executive said yesterday.

China’s tightening may end with yuan hike

And it could come without warning this year if Beijing’s preferred gradualist approach doesn’t cool the red-hot economy

Mainland defaulters sting small investors

China may boast dazzling economic growth but that has failed to translate into profits for some bond holders and thousands of small investors in Singapore who have seen their investments in a group of mainland companies listed in the city state turn to dust.

Island haven for ill-gotten gains

Some Americans look to the Cook Islands to protect their wealth

Chateau Lafite 1982 goes for HK$363,000

A six-litre bottle of Chateau Lafite 1982 has fetched HK$363,000 (S$65,600), nearly twice its presale high estimate, at a sold-out wine auction as the quest for rarity and inflation concerns drove prices higher.

Only a third of migrant workers given contracts

Only about a third of mainland migrant workers have signed contracts with their employers - two years after the introduction of a controversial labour contract law sought to make them compulsory, a survey has found.

Police detain soccer’s big two in crackdown

Two deputy chairmen of the Chinese Football Association have been detained by police in the most dramatic step yet in the mainland’s crackdown on soccer-related corruption.

Detentions give sport’s followers new hope

Mainland sportswriters and journalists were exhilarated yesterday, claiming they had finally discovered the root cause of the country’s substandard soccer performance.

China roars into the Year of the Tiger

In recent weeks, many analysts have commented that the China market is too hot. They warned of a market bubble or a property bubble. They suggested the Chinese government should do something quickly to cool the speculation and the property market.

Rich Beijingers take on Hong Kong developer

When wealthy Beijingers bought flats in one of the city’s most exclusive apartment complexes, they claim they weren’t told a four-lane highway would be built beneath their windows.

Cooling this hot market will test Beijing to the full

Even widows and orphans are now worried about the property bubble brewing on the mainland. Look up some key numbers and you can understand why. Nationwide property sales soared more than 75 per cent last year from 2008 to hit a whopping 4.4 trillion yuan (HK$5 trillion). In Shanghai, the second hottest property market on the mainland, home loans rose an unbelievable 1,600 per cent year on year to 99.58 billion yuan. Bubble or not, that is simply too much, too fast for many people - especially the central government.

Taipei puts ‘Black Bats’ on the radar

Secret squadron that spied on the mainland is finally honoured by Taiwan’s government