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World’s worst property market confronts Taiwan’s new prez

  Bloomberg Taiwan’s home prices, which have fallen in the past year ending a decade-long bull run, are poised to extend declines as the economy contracts and a new presidential administration focuses on equitable wealth distribution. Home values in Taiwan dropped 1.2 percent and transactions declined 15.5 percent since the first quarter of 2015, according to data from the Interior ...

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Global glut goes slow on China rustbelt jobs

  Daqing / AFP Once the pride of Communist rulers and now hit by a global glut and slowing domestic growth, China’s largest oilfield epitomizes Beijing’s reluctance to cut jobs at loss-making state-run operations. Thousands of oil pumps painted black, yellow and red stretch to the horizon in Daqing, which has produced more than two billion tonnes of the black ...

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A shadow economy thriving in garage

  Moscow / AFP Russia’s ubiquitous sheet metal sheds — where tyres are changed, furniture repaired and fish smoked — have become bustling hubs of a shadow economy essential to the livelihoods of the country’s crisis-stricken population. Built in the 1960s and 1970s close to Soviet-era apartment blocks, the clusters of boxy garages today house much more than cars — everything ...

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