Author: joyce

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Finance & Taxes Vietnam

Investment in Vietnam’s central region remains half-baked

Vietnam’s central region has seen many investment projects remain incomplete as investors fail to finish the work they started.

In the ancient city of Hue in Thua Thien-Hue Province, a dozen projects involving residential areas and tourist and greenery parks are left only half-complete after several years of construction. Examples include the 199-ha urban area in An Dong Ward, the 32-ha urban area in An Tay Ward, the 84-ha Xuan Phu Urban Area and the 31-ha Dong Nam Thuy An.

Moreover, none of the 31 hotel and entertainment park projects licensed since 2003 along the Hoi An-Dien Ban coastline in Quang Nam Province has been finished.

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China

Tibetans to Ponder New Strategy

According to the New York Times:

Tibetan exiles are scheduled to meet on Monday. The first conclave of its kind since 1991. The Dalai Lama has called for hundreds of Tibetans to gather in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to help decide on a new strategy for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama said this month that his drive to secure autonomy for Tibet through negotiations with the Chinese government had failed, an admission that strengthened the hand of younger Tibetans who have long agitated for a more radical approach and who have demanded independence….The rebuke, the harshest from the Chinese government since the violence last spring, contributed to the breakdown of talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama that had been taking place since 2002.

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Russia

Medvedev Hopes Obama’s Win Will Warm Relations

“There is no trust in the Russia-U.S. relations, the trust we need,” Mr. Medvedev said, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, in Washington after participating in the summit meeting on the financial crisis Saturday that brought together the leaders of 20 countries. “Therefore we have great aspirations for the new administration.”

He also repeated his threat, first made the day after Mr. Obama was elected, to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad if the United States moved ahead with plans to build missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

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China

China’s fiscal stimulus hugely welcome

According to The Economist article:

If the 800m in China’s countryside are persuaded to spend their money rather than save it, stronger domestic consumption could give a big boost to an economy still skewed towards exports. But the government seems half-hearted in this structural shift: it has also announced a raft of measures to subsidise exports. And it is doing too little to ease the worries that make China’s people cling on to their cash: how to meet unexpected medical bills; how to pay for a good education for their children; how to provide for their old age. Government health spending especially, at less than 1% of GDP, is woefully low—and not tackled meaningfully in this package.

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North Korea Uncategorized

North Korea Shows Leader is Healthy and in Control

North Korea’s state-run media outlets have released a flurry of reports of public appearances by the North’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, in what analysts on Thursday described as an effort to demonstrate to his people and the outside world that he is firmly in control, despite widespread rumors of ill health.

Analysts said the timing of recent reports about Mr. Kim was linked to the American presidential election.“Kim Jong-il wants to show that he is in control and that he has no problem being a partner of dialogue with the United States,” said Kim Yong-yun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University.

He suggested that the North Korean leader might soon stage a “foolproof” demonstration of his health, for example by releasing a video of his public activities or paying a courtesy call to the Chinese Embassy in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. China is North Korea’s main ally.

Categories
China

China’s Stimulus Package May Boost California, Japan

China’s stimulus package may help support sales of Japanese farm equipment, Brazilian iron ore and California machine tools, taking some of the edge off what might be the worst global recession in three decades.

The ripple effect of the $586 billion plan announced on Nov. 9 underscores China’s increasingly important role in the world economy as its policy makers work to keep the country’s growth close to 8 percent in 2009. Merrill Lynch & Co. said expansion would have cooled to 5 percent without the program from 9.5 percent this year.

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North Korea Uncategorized

North Korean Ban on Atomic Samples Harms Verification Process

North Korea’s bar on international inspectors taking soil and waste samples from its reactor undermines efforts to check the communist state’s nuclear program, South Korea’s foreign minister said.

The U.S. removed North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism in October after the communist state agreed to inspections of its Yongbyon nuclear plant and other locations suspected of being part of the regime’s atomic program.

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Central Asia

Kazkhstan’s economic stabilization plan being finalized

Kazakhstan expects to put the final touches on its fiscal stabilization plan by November 25. One of the government’s top priorities is shoring up the country’s wobbly banking sector.

“I think there should be significant movement in the next two weeks,” Masimov told a cabinet meeting on November 10. The prime minister added that the first benefits of a $15 billion stimulus package, announced in October, should become evident within days.

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Uncategorized

Kazakhstan pursues nuclear energy deal with India

Uranium from Kazakhstan will soon be powering Indian nuclear plants, the Kazakh ambassador to India revealed in a newspaper interview.

Kazakhstani envoy Kairat Umarov said state-owned Kazatompron was interested in exporting nuclear fuel to New Delhi, and assisting in the building of reactors.

“Kazakhstan today is the third biggest uranium producer after Canada and Australia. It is expected that by 2010, Kazakhstan will become the largest producer of uranium with production of 15,400 tons annually, which will be equal to 32 percent of the world’s total production,” Umarov said.

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Russia Uncategorized

The anti-West axis of Russia, Iran and Venezuela

Bound together by dislike for America, and confidence based on surging energy revenues, has appeared: an “axis of diesel”, as some have named it, comprising Russia, Iran and Venezuela. At least before the present financial crisis, the trio had been hobnobbing happily. Russia has sold billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Venezuela and blocked Western attempts to slap tougher sanctions on Iran. The Kremlin is also selling air-defence systems to the Iranians.