Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Singapore wants to boost population to 6.9 mln by 2030

Asian financial centre Singapore, which is already more densely populated than rival Hong Kong, wants to raise its population by as much as 30 percent in the next two decades to ensure its economy remains dynamic, the government said on Tuesday.

Rich Chinese buying property overseas draw resentment from locals

Property investments in Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and Singapore pay off for Chinese buyers, but locals are apparently growing increasingly impatient and unhappy

Lack of trust clouds strategies of China, Japan and the US in East Asia

A lack of trust and understanding cloud the diplomatic strategies of the big three players in East Asia – China, Japan and the United States

Monday, 28 January 2013

Xiamen University Expands Into Malaysia

Xiamen University in Fujian Province announced last week that it would open its first overseas campus in the Malaysian state of Selangor in September 2015.

In Asia’s trend-setting cities, iPhone fatigue sets in

Apple Inc’s iconic iPhone is losing some of its lustre among Asia’s well-heeled consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong, a victim of changing mobile habits and its own runaway success.

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Chinese officials rush to withdraw US dollars and sell property as anti-graft war looms

As the Communist Party’s disciplinary dog drums up efforts to crack down on corruption, party officials across the country are rushing to withdraw foreign currencies and sell their properties, reported Henan Business Daily on Wednesday.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

10 ways to deal with teenagers more effectively

Maybe you’re a parent, teacher or youth worker who finds it frustrating to deal with teenagers.

The ins and outs of immigration visas

You can live anywhere in the world if you have enough money

Sunday, 13 January 2013

As China’s navy grows, end of Deng’s dictum of keeping a low profile?

Beijing’s strategists, in responding to US domination of the oceans, are taking on board the ideas of a 19th century American historian

Lawsuit threat reminds critics of caution in more open Singapore

Singapore’s long-ruling government is reacting to discontent about rising prices, foreign workers and a sluggish economy with unprecedented openness but threats of lawsuits show it remains testy with critics deemed to have crossed the line.

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Government brings out Big Chiller to freeze property prices

Sweeping cooling measures take in several sectors, expected to dampen speculation across the board

Monday, 31 December 2012

Apple Maps glitch could be deadly: Australian police

Australian police Monday warned motorists about using the map system on new Apple iPhones after rescuing several people left stranded in the wilderness, saying the errors could prove deadly.

Robert Parker’s newsletter moving to Singapore

Influential US wine critic Robert Parker is moving the headquarters of his newsletter to Singapore after selling a major stake to investors based in the city-state, a report said yesterday.

Exposé reveals ascent to riches by ‘Immortals’ heirs

Study shows how descendants of eight party founding fathers are multibillion-dollar players at the forefront of country’s ‘red aristocracy’

Exodus of China’s rich and skilled for better lives

Politics, pollution and education among factors that saw 150,000 leave last year, report says

Mysteries surrounding Heywood murder begin to unfold

An investigative report about China’s most infamous former police officer Wang Lijun by China’s Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine has answered some unanswered questions relating to the murder of British businessmen Neil Heywood, whose death precipitated the downfall of China’s once powerful and ambitious politician Bo Xilai.

Friday, 28 December 2012

Heirs of Mao’s Comrades Rise as New Capitalist Nobility

Lying in a Beijing military hospital in 1990, General Wang Zhen told a visitor he felt betrayed. Decades after he risked his life fighting for an egalitarian utopia, the ideals he held as one of Communist China’s founding fathers were being undermined by the capitalist ways of his children -- business leaders in finance, aviation and computers.

“Turtle eggs,” he said to the visiting well-wisher, using a slang term for bastards. “I don’t acknowledge them as my sons.”

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Billionaire Princelings Ruin a Chinese Vision

This week’s Bloomberg News expose on the so-called Eight Immortals is a case in point. Building on a June article tracing the accumulated wealth of the family of Xi Jinping, China’s next president, it described the vast fortunes being amassed by the offspring of the founding fathers who were instrumental in Mao Zedong’s rise to power in 1949. Mao changed the world by meeting U.S. President Richard Nixon, and Immortals such as Deng Xiaoping engineered the economic boom that has unfolded since then.

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Monday, 24 December 2012

China’s anti-corruption drive triggers frantic property dump among officials

Real estate agents in provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu have been frantically trying to push deals for a torrent of second-hand flats suddenly released on the market – many of which belong to government officials, the Oriental Morning Post reported on Monday.

Friday, 21 December 2012

Agony endures 75 years after Nanking Massacre

Three quarters of a century after Japanese soldiers butchered her family and left her for dead, Xia Shuqin says she relives her terror with every denial that the Nanking Massacre ever happened.