Last Update: 4:54 am ET

ASEAN Markets Rally‏

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia will be shut on Friday for holidays.
Wall St rose sharply on Thursday as concern was eased when China refuted a report that it was reviewing its holdings in euro-zone sovereign bonds due to the region’s debt.
Data showing the U.S. economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter was [...]

Read More » No commentMay 28, 2010

Sea Shepherd anti-whaling activist goes on trial in Japan

TOKYO (AFP) – An anti-whaling activist of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society went on trial in Japan Thursday on charges stemming from clashes with harpoon ships in Antarctic waters this year.
New Zealander Peter Bethune, 45, was detained by whalers more than three months ago after he boarded the Shonan Maru [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

South Korean navy holds border anti-sub drills

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s navy staged anti-submarine drills on Thursday in tense waters bordering North Korea amid signs that China, under pressure from regional powers, is reviewing ties with the isolated communist state.
The naval exercise is aimed at better detecting intrusions by North Korean submarines after a team of investigators, [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

N.Korea makes new threats as cross-border tensions rise

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea threatened Wednesday to shut a border crossing and open fire on loudspeakers if South Korea makes good on its vow to blare out propaganda across the frontier in revenge for the sinking of a warship.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Seoul to show [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

Foxconn opens plant to reporters after suicides

SHENZHEN, China – The head of Foxconn bowed deeply several times and apologized Wednesday for a spate of suicides at the factory that makes Apple iPods and iPhones, promising the electronics giant will try to stop more deaths.
But the usually media-shy executive, Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou, cautioned there was [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

Nepal leaders still at odds as crisis looms

KATMANDU, Nepal – Nepalese government and opposition leaders failed Wednesday to resolve disagreements that could leave the Himalayan nation without a functioning legislature by the weekend and heading for political chaos, a ruling coalition official said.
The two-year term of the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in 2008, expires on Friday. The [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

China cool to US calls for action against NKorea

BEIJING – China responded coolly Tuesday to U.S. calls for it to support international action against North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called stability on the Korean peninsula a “shared responsibility” of Beijing and Washington.
Wrapping up two [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

ASEAN Markets to Open Lower‏

Wall St had a sharp downward turn and began trading in the red late Wednesday, despite some improving economic signals offered in the morning and following several sessions that found European sovereign debt concerns prompting a global selloff earlier this week.
This will bring profit taking in ASEAN markets at open but my [...]

Read More » No commentMay 27, 2010

Clinton leaves China after key talks

BEIJING (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday left China for South Korea as part of a week-long tour of Asia.
Clinton’s departure for South Korea follows the wrapping up of key talks between the United States and China which ended on a positive note, with Washington signalling progress [...]

Read More » No commentMay 26, 2010

Thousands pray for peace in Bangkok

BANGKOK – Thousands of residents gathered at dawn Wednesday to pray for peace at sites across Bangkok where people were killed and high-rise buildings torched in two months of the worst political violence in the country’s modern history.
The chants of 1,000 Buddhist monks mingled with the prayers of Muslim imams, [...]

Read More » No commentMay 26, 2010