Asia

Amidst growing global criticism, China has  decided against cutting its reliance on fossil fuels. Even as preparations are underway for the forthcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai due in late November, China has opposed the idea of phase out of fossil fuel by describing it as “unrealistic”. China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s climate office head Xia Yingxian recently said that countries must refrain from "empty slogans" and instead adopt a pragmatic attitude to climate change that reflects concerns such as energy security, employment and growth.He assured that his country would be open to setting a global renewable energy target during the talks.His remarks came in response to the United Nations "global stocktake" report published in September which stated that the worl...

The tussle between Namibian government and controversial Chinese firm Xinfeng has reached crescendo after it decided to stop the firm from transporting lithium ore and exporting it. The accusation against the Chinese miner was that it had indulged into corrupt practices and openly violated the government’s ban on crucial raw material exports. The Namibia government recently ordered the police to stop Xinfeng Investments from transporting lithium ore inside the country and from exporting it. Namibia’s mining commissioner, Isabella Chirchir, instructed the country’s police chief, Joseph Shikongo, to stop any trucks carrying raw lithium ore from Xinfeng’sKohero mine, about 250km north-west of Windhoek.The minister directed trucks carrying lithium ore to Walvis Bay, Namibia’s main port, sh...

China has become more than ever vulnerable to major economic troubles as the real estate crisis has deepened further after property giant Country Garden defaulted on an international bond. This is a serious blow to China’s economy amid falling home prices, and sluggish property sales as well as to average Chinese people who face massive losses. Country Garden has USD 190 million in liabilities. It expressed its inability to pay up to USD 15.4 million in dollar bonds, and thus heading to one of China’s biggest-ever restructurings. The real estate major still has in progress 3,000 housing projects and about 70,000 employees, which will have a major bearing on the Chinese economy.1 Earlier, another Chinese property giant Evergrande Group reported liabilities of over USD 300 billion, be...

Police alleged on Thursday that the Chinese Long River crime syndicate laundered $143 million via Changjiang Currency Exchange, a large money transfer group with dozens of shops nationwide Australian police have arrested seven members of an alleged Chinese crime syndicate accused of laundering millions of dollars through a large money-transfer network. A giant sting operation involving more than 330 police and US Homeland Security officers arrested seven alleged members of the syndicate, including four Chinese nationals, on Wednesday, when 20 search warrants were presented in five states. Police said on Thursday that the Chinese Long River crime syndicate allegedly laundered A$229 million ($143 million) through the Changjiang Currency Exchange, one of the largest i...

Nepalese Forbes-listed billionaire Binod Chaudhary’s CG Corp Global has completed the transaction to acquire the majority stake in Union Bank of Colombo PLC. The transaction completion for the acquisition was made public by the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) today. Through the acquisition, CG Corp Global will make its maiden foray into the financial services industry in Sri Lanka.  The acquisition of 70.84 per cent shares in UBC is via CG Capital Partners, a private equity company incorporated in Singapore under the umbrella of CG Corp Global. UBC is among Sri Lanka’s twelve listed banks with a market capitalization of LKR 9.1 billion.  Meanwhile, Union Bank has issued the following statement on the acquisition. Union Bank has issued a statement referring to the ...

The country is currently implementing various airport development projects, worth around Tk32,605 crore. Experts believe these projects, along with policy support, could turn the country into a regional aviation hub The booming aviation industry is taking the country a step ahead in economic advancement by integrating it into the global economy.  International flights and the number of passengers travelling to and from Bangladesh nearly doubled from the pre-pandemic level. The total number of international air travellers was nearly 800,000 per month this year (till October), which was below 500,000 in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.  The number of international flights per month was nearly 3,500 this year, up from nearly 2,200 in 2019.  Domestic air travel also grew s...

This is the second appeal for calm by the Chinese president, in a little over a month, amid a bitter technology and trade war between the world’s two biggest economies Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that China is willing to cooperate with the United States to manage differences and contribute to each other’s progress, state media reported. Xi said both sides needed to work together to respond to global challenges and push for common prosperity, in a letter delivered at an annual dinner of New York-headquartered National Committee on United States-China Relations. Whether or not the United States and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to for “world peace and development, and the future of mankind,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. ...