Asia – News Stories About Asia - Page 6

Apr 6, 2008 2:21 PM CDT

Crisis Looms as Rice Prices Soar

Countries ban exports, chastise hoarders

(Newser) - Rice feeds half the world's population, but this year there isn't enough to go around and prices have risen by 50% over the last two weeks alone. Population growth is outpacing production, and stocks are at a 30-year low after droughts decimated harvests in China and Australia. Countries are banning...

South Koreans Turn to Cambodia to Buy Wives

Mar 25, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

South Koreans Turn to Cambodia to Buy Wives

Government decries 'human trafficking' on rise after Vietnam crackdown

(Newser) - A clampdown on marriage brokers in Vietnam has made neighboring Cambodia the new destination for South Korean men seeking to buy wives, the AP reports. About 2,500 Cambodian women have married Koreans this way in the past four years in a process in which men choose from as many...

Asia May Be Yahoo's Trump Card

Feb 27, 2008 8:37 AM CST

Asia May Be Yahoo's Trump Card

Value of Asian partnerships could justify higher valuation from Microsoft

(Newser) - A revised Microsoft bid for Yahoo may be heavily influenced by Yahoo’s Asian interests, reports the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft execs toured Asia in December and concluded that they needed a local partner there. Yahoo holds large stakes in a Korean auction site, a major Chinese search engine, and...

Australian PM Pledges Support for East Timor

Feb 15, 2008 6:53 PM CST

Australian PM Pledges Support for East Timor

Rudd visits capital, president wounded in attacks by rebel soldiers

(Newser) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd jetted to East Timor today, vowing to stand by its neighbor after attacks Monday on its president and prime minister, Reuters reports. "It's by the ballot box, and not by the barrel of a gun, that the decisions for our countries will be made,...

Hello Kitty to Purr for Young Men, Too

Dec 28, 2007 2:46 PM CST

Hello Kitty to Purr for Young Men, Too

Company will make girl-friendly product line palatable for teen boys

(Newser) - Will boys really say “Hello Kitty”? The company behind the sugary-sweet product line thinks so. Japan’s Sanrio Co. says it will plaster the cuddly cat on T-shirts, bags, watches, and other products for males. “We think Hello Kitty is accepted by young men as a design...

Cheating Is
No Longer
Child's Play

Dec 26, 2007 8:24 PM CST

Cheating Is No Longer Child's Play

Jobseekers flock to web for answers to professional exams

(Newser) - Crib sheets have gone high-tech, the Boston Globe reports, as legions of job seekers from would-be medical technicians to school bus drivers resort to the Web for a leg-up in passing professional qualifying exams. The result is a booming black market for “braindumps,” or exam answers. Some are...

2007: Asia's Banner Year

OPINION

Dec 24, 2007 2:19 PM CST

2007: Asia's Banner Year

Bloomberg praises those who fuel the region's return to economic power

(Newser) - Asia's economies are soaring so mightily that Bloomberg columnist William Pesek is passing out awards for Asia's big players in 2007. They range from a “Money Talks” prize, for Arab and Asian leaders who bailed out Wall Street banks, to the “Howard's End” trophy, for Australian PM Kevin...

Murdoch Grooms Son to Succeed Him

Dec 7, 2007 5:56 AM CST

Murdoch Grooms Son to Succeed Him

James to be promoted to head News Corp. in Europe and Asia

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's son James will be put in charge of News Corp. in Europe and Asia, making him heir apparent to his father's throne, sources tell Bloomberg. James has been in charge of pay-TV provider British Sky Broadcasting Group since 2003; during his tenure the company has more than doubled...

Bush Pulls About-Face on North Korea

Dec 7, 2007 4:31 AM CST

Bush Pulls About-Face on North Korea

Offers normal ties to former 'axis of evil' player for nuke secrets

(Newser) - In a sharp reversal from the days when he labeled North Korea part of the "axis of evil," President Bush has sent a letter to Kim Jong Il saying that if the dictator reveals the details of his nuclear program by the end of the year, the US...

So Many Men, So Much Frustration

Nov 2, 2007 8:48 PM CDT

So Many Men, So Much Frustration

Asian gender gap will see millions without mates, stall economies

(Newser) - A growing gender gap spells trouble for Asian markets, where scholars predict that a glut of men without partners—Chinese and Indian men will outnumber women by more than 20 million each in 2030—will have a cascade of unintended consequences, economic as well as social. Sexual violence and...

Death Toll at 88 in Thai Air Crash

Sep 16, 2007 1:08 PM CDT

Death Toll at 88 in Thai Air Crash

Survivor says plane tried to land too fast in torrential rain

(Newser) - The death toll has risen to 88 in the crash of a budget airliner on a Thai island resort today, Reuters reports. Officials said the plane broke up and burst into flames as it tried to land in torrential rain.The 42 survivors are being treated for a variety of...

Japanese Prime Minister Resigns

Sep 12, 2007 1:48 AM CDT

Japanese Prime Minister Resigns

Scandals shatter public support for controversial leader

(Newser) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced he'll resign today in the wake of several cabinet-level scandals and the suicide of a top official that has destroyed public confidence in his administration. After taking power just last year, Abe's nationalist Liberal Democratic Party lost the upper house of parliament to...

Monks Hold Burmese Officials Hostage

Sep 7, 2007 2:18 PM CDT

Monks Hold Burmese Officials Hostage

Incident ends in release as protests of fuel price hikes rage

(Newser) - Hundreds of angry monks have released Burmese government officials they held hostage for over 5 hours yesterday, the Guardian reports, in protest of the military regime’s fuel price hikes. Reading Buddhist scriptures, nearly 500 monks burned the officials’ cars, locked them inside a monastery, and surrendered the prisoners only...

Aussie Comics Penetrate Tight Sydney Security

Sep 6, 2007 2:00 PM CDT

Aussie Comics Penetrate Tight Sydney Security

Fake Osama, other pranksters mock Bush, embarrass police

(Newser) - Only one was dressed as Osama bin Laden, but all 11 eleven members of an Australian comedy troupe were arrested in Sydney today after they posed as a Canadian delegation and drove through two security checkpoints near President Bush’s hotel. The stunt was an embarrassment to Sydney police, who...

'Blood Hits Streets' as Asian Markets Plunge

Aug 16, 2007 4:42 AM CDT

'Blood Hits Streets' as Asian Markets Plunge

Continuing credit woes trigger steepest dive in six years

(Newser) - Asian stock markets continued to slide today, pounded by fears of a global credit squeeze, recording their most precipitous drop in five years, Reuters reports. South Korea's Kospi index skidded 6.9 percent as major corporations and financial institutions took horrific beatings. Australia's Rams Home Loans Group revealed it can't...

Angkor What?: Cambodian Dig Unearths Megacity

Aug 14, 2007 12:34 PM CDT

Angkor What?: Cambodian Dig Unearths Megacity

Ancient city was once world's largest

(Newser) - Cambodia's famed Angkor—usually penciled into guidebooks thanks to its eponymous 12th-century temple—was once the world's biggest city, new research by University of Sydney archaeologists shows. From the 10th century on, Angkor grew to nearly one million inhabitants and sprawled out to the size of modern-day Los Angeles.

Credit Fears Rock Asian Markets

Aug 10, 2007 5:51 AM CDT

Credit Fears Rock Asian Markets

Subprime mortgage crisis ripples across Pacific

(Newser) - Asian stocks nosedived today as market fears triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis rippled across the globe. The steepest drop in 5 months echoed upheaval spreading outward from Wall Street, with Toyota and Samsung leading a retreat by large exporters hurt by fears that the lending catastrophe and resultant...

Smog Cloud Menaces Asia

Aug 3, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

Smog Cloud Menaces Asia

Asian Brown Cloud is melting Himalayan glaciers

(Newser) - An enormous cloud of smog over southern Asia threatens 2 billion people with flooding and drought, a new study shows. The "Asian Brown Cloud" is melting Himalayan glaciers, the Times of London reports, and the resulting floods will menace heavily populated downstream areas. And the cloud's driving up temperatures...

Dow Surges After Asian Bleeding, Roller-Coaster Day

Aug 1, 2007 4:06 PM CDT

Dow Surges After Asian Bleeding, Roller-Coaster Day

(Newser) - Wall Street is dizzy after mixed signals threw traders into buy mode despite an abundance of bearish indicators today, making for one of the most volatile days in weeks. The Dow finished up 150.38 points at 13362.37, even after Asian markets plummeted across the board last night, a...

Asian Stocks Take a Dive

Jul 27, 2007 7:52 AM CDT

Asian Stocks Take a Dive

Prices plunge in response to US subprime mortgage crisis

(Newser) - Share prices plummeted throughout Asia today in response to the yesterday's sell-off on Wall Street and the escalating crisis in the US housing market. After the 300-point plunge in the U.S., the Tokyo Market closed at a three-month-low, and markets in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Sydney also took serious...