Saturday, 24 May 2014

The fashion cycle

Roads are the new runways for a tribe of chic cyclists, who have elevated the mode of transportation into a hipster lifestyle.

Friday, 23 May 2014

Doctor exposes China's medical corruption epidemic

Ordering an unnecessary pacemaker, urging a woman to be hospitalised for a sore throat -- a doctor's allegations of corruption spotlight troubles so endemic in China's healthcare system that patients frequently turn violent.
Link

Irascible general close to country’s royals

Just months before his retirement, Thai army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha yesterday took control of the country eight years after the previous military coup.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Fine Line Seen in U.S. Spying on Companies

The National Security Agency has never said what it was seeking when it invaded the computers of Petrobras, Brazil’s huge national oil company, but angry Brazilians have guesses: the company’s troves of data on Brazil’s offshore oil reserves, or perhaps its plans for allocating licenses for exploration to foreign companies.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

With Spy Charges, U.S. Draws a Line That Few Others Recognize

For example, the United States spies regularly for economic advantage when the goal is to support trade talks; when the Clinton administration was locked in a high-stakes negotiation in the 1990s to reach an accord with Japan, it bugged the Japanese negotiator’s limousine. At the time, the chief beneficiaries would have been the Big Three auto companies and a smattering of parts suppliers. It is also widely believed to be using intelligence in support of trade negotiations underway with European and Asian trading partners. But in the view of a succession of Democratic and Republican administrations, that is fair game.

China warns US cyber charges could damage ties

The United States denies spying for commercial advantage, though documents released by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said the NSA broke into the computers of Brazil's main state-owned oil company, Petrobras. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said if that was true, then the motive would be to gather economic information.
Link

Monday, 19 May 2014

Singapore billionaire Lim joins Asian owners

Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, the new owner of Valencia, has realised a long-held dream by buying a top European football club -- and will hope for better fortunes than some of his fellow Asian investors.
Link

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Anton Casey goes for online makeover

Briton Anton Casey, who fled to Australia in January after being slammed for denigrating public transport commuters, has made headlines again - this time on purpose.


Meanwhile a spokesman for one website where an article entitled “Financial professional Anton Casey optimistic about Singapore Real Estate Market” was posted said it had been uploaded by a user unaffiliated with its staff. He added that the “unwanted article” was removed as it went against the site’s policy.

Friday, 2 May 2014

Singapore protesters attack immigration, jobs policies

Hundreds of Singaporeans rallied Thursday to denounce the government's immigration and labour policies amid a fresh wave of anti-foreigner sentiment in the city-state.
Link

Sunday, 27 April 2014

China releases Japanese wartime documents

China has released previously confidential Japanese wartime documents, including some about comfort women forced to serve in military brothels during World War Two, state media reported.
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Archives reveal “comfort women” official actions of Japan

Forcing women into sex slavery and setting up “comfort stations” were official actions of the invading Japanese army during World War Two in Asian countries, newly publicized wartime archives reveal.

Japan's confidential wartime files about China revealed

China on Saturday published more than 110,000 confidential Japanese documents from wartime to expose Japan's history of invasion.

Friday, 25 April 2014

Monday, 21 April 2014

Americans still don't trust the stock market

More than five years after the financial crisis, the average American is still wary of the stock market, according to a survey released Monday.
Link

Friday, 11 April 2014

CIA's 'harsh interrogations' exceeded legal authority

A classified U.S. Senate report found that the CIA's legal justification for the use of harsh interrogation techniques that critics say amount to torture was based on faulty legal reasoning, McClatchy news service reported on Thursday.
Link

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Japan opposition fears Abe 'destabilizing' region

Japan's main opposition leader chided Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for conservative statements on war history and voiced fear he could be a "destabilizing" factor in East Asia.
Link

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

CIA misled on interrogation program, Senate report says

A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years — concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.
Link

Monday, 31 March 2014

Neville Maxwell interview: the full transcript

In his first interview after a Snowden-style disclosure of the contentious secret report on the 1962 China-India war, Neville Maxwell tells Debasish Roy Chowdhury of the South China Morning Post what the 50-year-old document means for the future of China-India relations.