Tag Archives: Asia

Gold’s dichotomy: Investment demand plunges, but consumers keep buying

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“Today’s gold market is being defined by two trends: aggressive selling by investors in North America through exchange-traded funds, and aggressive buying by consumers in Asia.  But for now, the ETF investors are overwhelming everyone else.  Gold prices settled below US$1,390 an ounce on Thursday, and after five rough trading days in a row, they are approaching the lows that were reached during last month’s dramatic collapse.  Chinese gold imports have been going through the roof. Data released last week showed that China imported 223.5 tonnes (or 7.9 million ounces) from Hong Kong in March, crushing the previous monthly record.”

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/05/16/golds-dichotomy-investment-demand-plunges-but-consumers-keep-buying/

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India Trade Deficit Deteriorates As Gold Imports Soar 138%

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“India’s economic boogeyman, the monthly trade deficit, continues to rear its ugly head, this and every time, driven be the country’s insatiable desire for gold which is so powerful, the country took full advantage of the plunge in gold prices, and saw business imports of gold soar by 138% y/y in April, forcing the trade deficit to hit a 3 month high of $17.8 billion as more fiat left the country in return for bringing in more of the ‘barbarous relic.’ Gold imports more than doubled on both a Y/Y and sequential basis, with gold accounting for $7.5 billion, or 18% of total imports, compared to $3.1 billion in March.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-13/india-trade-deficit-deteriorates-gold-imports-soar-138

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Hundreds of Bangladesh textile plants shut indefinitely

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“The textile industry’s main trade body said all operations at the nearby Ashulia industrial zone on the outskirts of Dhaka were being suspended until further notice. Shahidullah Azim, of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the decision was made ‘to ensure the security of our factories’. Most of Bangladesh’s top garment factories are based at Ashulia and there has been ‘virtually no work’ there since the April 24 Rana Plaza tragedy, Azim said.  Ashulia is home to around 500 factories which make clothing for a string of major Western retailers including Walmart, H&M, Tesco and Carrefour.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/13/hundreds-of-bangladesh-textile-plants-shut-indefinitely/

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U.S. pilot found living in Vietnam village 44 years after being declared MIA

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“A Canadian documentarian says in a new film that an elderly man he found living in a remote Vietnamese village is former U.S. Army Green Beret Sgt. John Hartley Robertson, who was presumed dead 44 years ago. According to The Independent, filmmaker Michael Jorgensen claims that the man found in a village in South Vietnam can’t remember the English language or the names of his wife and children, but that he is the U.S. veteran whose helicopter was shot down in 1968.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/30/u-s-pilot-found-living-in-vietnam-village-44-years-after-being-declared-mia/

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Dennis Rodman pleads with Kim Jong-Un to release American sentenced to 15 years

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“Basketball hall-of-famer Dennis Rodman, who forged an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on a recent trip, appealed Tuesday for the freedom of an American sentenced to 15 years. ‘I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him ‘Kim’, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,’ Rodman tweeted. Bae, whose Korean name is Pae Jun-Ho, was sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor on charges that he tried to topple the North Korean regime. The Korean-American had organized tours into the isolated state.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/07/dennis-rodman-pleads-with-kim-jong-un-to-release-american-sentenced-to-15-years/

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Indian government now snooping on SMSs, online chats

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“The government last month quietly began rolling out a project that gives it access to everything that happens over India’s telecommunications network—online activities, phone calls, text messages and even social media conversations. Called the Central Monitoring System, it will be the single window from where government arms such as the National Investigation Agency or the tax authorities will be able to monitor every byte of communication.  But privacy and internet freedom advocates are worried that in the name of security, the government could end up snooping on people, possibly abusing a system that does not have enough safeguards to protect ordinary citizens.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Government-can-now-snoop-on-your-SMSs-online-chats/articleshow/19932484.cms

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Banks in Singapore agonize over rich clients in tax evasion clampdown

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“The Southeast Asian city-state has grown into the world’s fourth-biggest offshore financial center but, with U.S. and European regulators on the hunt for tax cheats, the government is clamping down to forestall the kind of onslaught from foreign authorities that is now hitting Switzerland’s banks.  Before July 1, all financial institutions in Singapore must identify accounts they strongly suspect hold proceeds of fraudulent or wilful tax evasion and, where necessary, close them. After that, handling the proceeds of tax crimes will be a criminal offence under changes to the city-state’s anti-money laundering law.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-singapore-banks-crime-idUSBRE9440CM20130505

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India gives top security protection to country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani

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“The Indian government is to provide the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, head of energy giant Reliance Industries, with full-time security from armed commandos, media reports said Monday. India’s home ministry approved the move, the Times of India said, two months after a letter threatening to harm Ambani was hand-delivered to his office in Mumbai, allegedly from the banned Indian Mujahideen militant group.  Citing an unnamed government source, the newspaper said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had approved the so-called ‘Z category’ top-grade security for Ambani, which is usually reserved for prominent political leaders.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/22/india-gives-top-security-protection-to-countrys-richest-man-mukesh-ambani/

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‘No frills’ Indian hospitals offer $800 heart surgery

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“What if hospitals were run like a mix of Wal-Mart and a low-cost airline? The result might be something like the chain of ‘no-frills’ Narayana Hrudayalaya clinics.  Using pre-fabricated buildings, stripping out air-conditioning and even training visitors to help with post-operative care, the group believes it can cut the cost of heart surgery to an astonishing 800 dollars.  Already famous for his ‘heart factory’ in Bangalore, which does the highest number of cardiac operations in the world, the latest ‘Temple of the Heart’ projects are ultra low-cost facilities. ‘Our target is to build and equip a hospital for six million dollars and build it in six months.'”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/22/no-frills-indian-hospitals-offer-800-heart-surgery/

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Wary of China, Companies Head to Cambodia

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“Foreign companies are flocking to Cambodia for a simple reason. They want to limit their overwhelming reliance on factories in China. Problems are multiplying fast for foreign investors in China. Blue-collar wages have surged, quadrupling in the last decade as a factory construction boom has coincided with waning numbers of young people interested in factory jobs. Starting last year, the labor force has actually begun shrinking because of the “one child” policy and an aging population.  Foreign investment in China slipped 3.5 percent last year, after rising every year since 1980 except 1999, during the Asian financial crisis, and 2009, during the global financial crisis.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/business/global/wary-of-events-in-china-foreign-investors-head-to-cambodia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

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