Latest Southeast Asia News
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Thai stocks fall to two-week low before long weekend
BANGKOK, May 23 (Reuters) - Thailand's main SET index was down 1.6 percent at midday, underperforming others in Southeast Asia, as investors cashed in on recently rallying shares ahead of a three-day weekend and the central bank's policy rate review next week. Sentiment was broadly weak on worries in Asia about a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus. Local brokers said the Thai stock ...
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Indonesia financial regulator expects new banking law completed in 2014
JAKARTA | Thu May 23, 2013 2:06am EDT JAKARTA May 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia's chief financial regulator, who will have oversight of the bank sector from next year, said a new banking law was certain to come into force in 2014. Legislators are already drafting the law which senior MPs told Reuters on Wednesday they expected to include a maximum 51 percent limit on the amount a ...
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12 Killed in Pakistan Blast
Officials in southwest Pakistan say an explosion has ripped through a vehicle used by security forces, killing at least 12 people and wounding nearly two ...
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Telkomsel ramps up mobile ad service
Paper Edition | Page: 13 Indonesia's major mobile network operators are expanding their mobile-based advertising services to capture the growing trend among companies to advertise their brands and products through cell phones.PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) is one of several mobile network operators that are aiming to benefit from mobile advertisements. Adrian Suherman, the head of ...
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Women girls must be at the heart of post-2015 agenda
Thousands of global leaders will gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend one of the largest conferences of the decade to focus on girls and women.The landmark conference, Women Deliver 2013, will call on the global community to continue to place girls and women's health and rights at the central of the new global development agenda."Women Deliver 2013 could not come at a more ...
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Danamon shares tumble on uncertain acquisition
Paper Edition | Page: 13 Investors seemed to be showing their pessimism over Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd.'s plan to acquire Jakarta-listed PT Bank Danamon, with the latter's shares taking a dip on Wednesday.Danamon's shares, traded under the code BDMN, were closed at Rp 5,850 (60 US cents) apiece on Wednesday, a 2.5 percent drop compared to a day earlier of Rp 6,000. ...
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Analysis Short-term pain long-term gain
Ahead of the government's plan to increase an average 33 percent fuel price hike, the market has continued to forge ahead breaking through the 5,150 year-end index target. While we believe that less government fuel subsidies will improve Indonesia's longer-term macro fundamentals, we think that short-term pain in the form of slower growth on the back of higher inflation and increased ...
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Samudera plunges deeper into the red
Paper Edition | Page: 14 PT Samudra Indonesia (SMDR), a company providing end-to-end cargo and logistics transportation services, suffered a net loss of US$3.2 million in the first quarter of the year as rising operating costs ate up the company's revenues.The loss rose from $2.32 million in the January-March period, 2012.Masli Mulia, the president director of Samudera Indonesia, said that ...
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Oil sector not yet ready to apply cabotage rule
Paper Edition | Page: 14 Indonesia, a former member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), may experience a further decline in its crude oil production as the exemption for oil and gas vessels from the cabotage rule is set to expire in 2015, a top official has said. Interim upstream watchdog SKKMigas Rudi Rubiandini said on Wednesday that industry was still lacking the ...
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Yoris Sebastian Taking creativity to a whole new level
Yoris Sebastian never thinks of himself as an expert on inventiveness, but his addiction to creativity has made him a top creative agent, full of fresh ideas.A lot of people and companies turn to him for input, advice and suggestions when they need a breakthrough. "I like thinking creatively because that allows me to do something innovative. I always try to think out of the box but execute ...
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Begonias in the garden
Begonias, those waxy, petalled, succulent plants found in greenhouses or bright bathroom corners are, surprisingly, native to Indonesia. Hidden in the jungle shadows of Maluku, Sulawesi, Java, Kalimantan, Bali and most other islands of the archipelago, begonias take root in dappled light and grow into a myriad of complex forms, each adapted over eons to their particular environment, explains ...
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Philippines vows to defend territory against China
This undated handout photo released by the Philippine Government on May 23, 2013 shows an aerial view of BRP Sierra Madre, a 100-metre (328 foot) amphibious vessel built for the US in 1944 and acquired by the Filipino navy in 1976, grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The Philippines vowed Thursday to "defend what is ours" as part of a stand-off over a Chinese ...
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Malaysian opposition leaders hand memo to Singapore High Commission
Police officers at Merlion Park near One Fullerton on 11 May 2013. A group of 21 Malaysians were arrested that day after they staged an outdoor protest at the park. This was despite earlier police reminders that such gatherings are against the law. Malaysian opposition politicians handed a memorandum to the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, urging authorities to exercise ...
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Asia stocks slide as China factory output slips
Recession in Europe, growth-robbing deflation in Japan and economic anemia in the U.S. have finally caught up with export-hooked China despite the government's attempts at bolstering consumption at ...
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Indian Shares Extend Losses On Asian Cues Weak Rupee
markets lower on Thursday after Fed chief Bernanke hinted at reducing the current pace of bond purchases and preliminary data showed China's manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in seven months in May. The Indian rupee opened at 55.84 against the dollar, hitting a fresh six-month low, weighed down by a stronger dollar and lingering concerns about India's high current ...
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12 die in Pakistan bombing
Islamabad, May 23 : Twelve people, including eight police personnel, were killed and over 20 injured Thursday in a powerful bombing in Pakistan's Quetta ...
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Trilateral cooperation among China India and Nepal urged
Nepal's three former prime ministers have called for a trilateral cooperation among Nepal, China and India in order to hasten economic development in the region. In exclusive interviews with Xinhua recently, the three former prime ministers, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Puspa Kamal Dahal " Prachanda" and Madhav Kumar Nepal, underscored the importance of trilateral cooperation among the ...
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Thai Bank of Ayudhya denies report of MUFG offer for stake
BANGKOK | Thu May 23, 2013 1:43am EDT BANGKOK May 23 (Reuters) - Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, Thailand's fifth-largest lender, denied a newspaper report that Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) had offered to buy General Electric's stake in it for 40 baht per share. "The news is groundless," President Philip Tan told reporters on Thursday. Thai-language Khao Hoon ...
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Bomb kills at least two in Quetta in southwest Pakistan Police
QUETTA, Pakistan: At least two people were killed and more than a dozen wounded when a bomb tore through a vehicle used by security forces in Pakistan's troubled southwest on Thursday, police said. The incident took place on the outskirts of the city ...
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Probe faults construction materials for Bangladesh building collapse
FILE - In this Sunday, May 12, 2013 file photo, Bangladeshi rescuers use heavy machinery to clear rubble of a garment factory building that collapsed on April 24 as they continue searching for bodies in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. A government investigation said poor quality construction materials and building code violations contributed to the collapse of building housing garment factories ...
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Singapore sees slower economic growth in first quarter
(49 mins ago) Singapore's trade-sensitive economy slowed in the first quarter on sluggish demand for its exports, the government said Thursday, warning that risks remained despite improved global conditions. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said gross domestic product (GDP) climbed 0.2 percent year-on-year in the three months to March, much slower than the preceding quarter's 1.5 ...
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Freeport Indonesia tunnel collapse probes must be finished for workers to return -union
JAKARTA | Thu May 23, 2013 1:29am EDT JAKARTA May 23 (Reuters) - All investigations into a tunnel collapse that killed 28 people at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Indonesian copper mine must be completed before workers return to the world's No.2 copper mine, a trade union leader said on Thursday. Arizona-based Freeport suspended operations at the remote Papua mine on May ...
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Singapore GDP growth slows
SINGAPORE'S trade-sensitive economy slowed in the first quarter on sluggish demand for its exports, its government says, warning that risks remained despite improved global conditions. The Ministry of Trade and Industry on Thursday said gross domestic product (GDP) climbed 0.2 per cent year-on-year in the three months to March, much slower than the preceding quarter's 1.5 per cent ...
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Malaysia Maybanks Q1 net profit up 11.8 pct above forecast
KUALA LUMPUR | Thu May 23, 2013 1:14am EDT KUALA LUMPUR May 23 (Reuters) - Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia's biggest bank by assets, posted a 11.8 percent rise in first quarter profit, helped by higher net interest income and strong Islamic banking performance. Maybank earned 1.51 billion ringgit ($499.75 million) in the three months ended March, compared with a net profit ...
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Pakistan summons Afghan envoy over border post firing
Pakistan on Thursday summoned Afghan Charge d'Affaires and lodged protest over unprovoked firing on a border check post, the Foreign Ministry said. The Foreign Ministry said that two soldiers were injured in firing by Afghan troops late Wednesday. "The Afghan Charge d'Affaires was summoned to the Foreign Office today for conveying protest of the Government of Pakistan on an ...
Bangladesh in Focus
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Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh, the politics of their situation is more important than the human impact
Bangladesh and Myanmar have been disputing their sea border for years, and in recent months tensions on the land border have mounted as claims of interference and counter-claims of provocation are made by both countries, now the politics of territorial dispute have come to have a direct bearing on the respect for human life and development.
In October of 2009, the government of Bangladesh received a report from its military officials detailing a credible threat of attack from Myanmar, they feared that St Martin’s island in the Bay of Bengal, a region increasingly important economically for hydrocarbons, would be attacked and captured by Myanmar, and called for the government to strengthen the defensive capability of the island which has a circumference of just 3 miles. Read more
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