• East Asia

    Markets unlikely to be swayed by election

    With the presidential election over, policymakers and investors are looking to how the results will affect the future course of financial markets, particularly the stock market. Analysts predict the stock market will receive a short-term boost on the elimination of political uncertainty and the anticipation of stimulative economic policies by…

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  • East Asia

    SK Chairman Chey steps down from top post

    SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has stepped down from the top post of Korea’s third largest conglomerate’s decision-making body to serve as a strategic stakeholder, the group said Tuesday. Kim Chang-geun, vice chairman of SK Chemical, was appointed to chair the group starting January, it said. “Chey, who has served…

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  • 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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