• East Asia

    ‘Abenomics’ unnerves Korean exporters

    Korean companies are expected to experience another hurdle in their exports as Shinzo Abe’s expected return to power in Japan is highly likely to appreciate the Korean won against the Japanese yen. Conservative ex-premier Abe has pledged to ease credit in an unlimited manner to boost the Japanese economy, which…

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  • East Asia

    Wine tops soju in sales

    Lotte Mart, the discount chain of retail giant Lotte, said Sunday that its sales of wine exceeded those of soju, the traditional Korean distilled spirit, this year for the first time, by 4.6 percent as of Dec. 9. Wine sales, which accounted for less than 30 percent of soju just…

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  • East Asia

    Power saving drive

    Firms compete to save energy to avoid blackout Companies face increasing pressure to create ideas for reducing electricity consumption as the country is bracing for an “unprecedented” shortage of power during the winter.   Scores of ideas have been generated and applied to work places as part of efforts to…

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  • West Asia

    Kuwait’s new port, now being built, will be completed by 2020

    Efforts to transform Kuwait’s logistics infrastructure are gathering pace following the announcement that the first phase of the $1.2bn Mubarak Al Kabir port development is on track for completion in the second quarter of 2014. The port, which will have an initial annual cargo-handling capacity of 1.8m containers, forms a…

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  • Samsung axes jobs at financial units

    Unlike flourishing electronics affiliates, financial units of Samsung Group have been struggling to stay afloat, hit hard by the bearish stock market, low interest rates and sluggish consumption amid the prolonged global economic slump. Now, the country’s largest family-controlled conglomerate is posed to axe hundreds of jobs at its securities,…

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  • East Asia

    Winners and losers

    Strong won hurts carmakers, IT firms, shipbuilders Concerns are growing over the ill-effects of the local currency’s steep appreciation against the dollar as the stronger won makes Korean products more expensive on the global market. This also results in smaller earnings in terms of won for exporters, which affects their…

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  • West Asia

    Saudi Oil Minister Meets The Press Ahead Of OPEC Meeting

    Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ibrahim Naimi speaks to journalists prior to the start of the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 . <AP/NEWSis/Ronald Zak>

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  • East Asia

    ‘Education poor’ on sharp rise

    Middle-class parents pressed to cope with costly private tutoring Kim Ji-hye is 6. She attends a neighborhood preschool in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. She has a busier schedule than her parents because her mother wants to keep her focused on learning. After finishing preschool at around 2 p.m., she rushes to…

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  • Lotte seeks to buy POSCO’s retail units

    Lotte Group, the country’s fifth largest family-controlled conglomerate specializing in retail and leisure industries, is in talks with POSCO to take over the world’s fourth largest steelmaker’s three retail units here and abroad, according to industry sources Tuesday. They include Diamond Plaza, a hybrid residential and commercial building in Vietnam,…

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  • Foreigner-only casinos to open in Saemangeum

    The government announced Tuesday that it will allow the building of foreigner-only casinos in Saemangeum from September 2013. The 400-square-kilometer-wide reclaimed tidal flat, about two-thirds the size of Seoul, is currently in the process of being transformed into an industrial park with tourism and leisure facilities. According to the Ministry…

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