March, 2016

• 6 March

  Taiwan sees explosive growth in online retailing

  Taipei / DPA Women are the most active customers in Taiwan’s online retail market, prompting local e-commerce operators to revise marketing strategies to meet the needs of female shoppers. Japan-based Rakuten’s e-commerce platform in Taiwan sees women account for 70 percent of its membership, according to the United Evening News. The paper cited the Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba as indicating that ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  AMC buys Carmike Cinemas for US$1.1 billion in all-cash deal

  

  Beijing / Bloomberg AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., controlled by China’s richest man, agreed to buy Carmike Cinemas Inc. in a $1.1 billion all-cash deal that would create the world’s largest cinema chain and extend Chinese influence in the movie industry. AMC, majority owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co., will pay $30 a share for Carmike, a 19 ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  EU to push Turkey to take back migrants on ‘large-scale’

  

  Brussels / AFP European leaders will push Turkey at a summit on Monday to agree to “large-scale” deportations of economic migrants from Greece, as EU chief Donald Tusk says he sees the first hints of a resolution to the migrant crisis. With a fresh surge expected in the warmer spring weather, the European Union’s 28 leaders are pinning much of ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  Syria Western-backed oppn elects new leader

  BEIRUT / AP One of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition groups elected a new leader after the term of its former chief ended, it said in a statement. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition said longtime member Anas Al Abda was elected president, replacing Khaled Khoja. It added that three other officials from the group have been named vice presidents. The ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  South Korea to announce new sanctions on North

  Seoul/ AFP South Korea will soon announce its own tougher sanctions on North Korea, an official said on Sunday, a move set to further heighten tensions as Seoul and Washington begin their largest-ever joint military exercise. The new measures—following Wednesday’s decision by the UN Security Council to slap unprecedented sanctions on the North—will be announced this week, a Seoul government ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  Maldives’ young democracy sliding back to autocracy

  

  COLOMBO / AP With most opposition leaders in jail or exile, public protests tightly controlled and courts rendering verdicts decried for lack of due process, the Maldives has nearly slid back to where it was eight years ago: an autocratic state that quashes dissent. Since assuming power in this Indian Ocean archipelago nation of luxurious seaside resorts just over two ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  Philippines waits for UN response on N Korean ship

  

  Manila / AFP The Philippine coastguard said it was closely watching a North Korean vessel and its 21 crew members on Sunday, as officials waited for a response from the United Nations days after the ship was seized in compliance with new sanctions. The 6,830-tonne cargo ship, the Jin Teng, is being held at Subic port, northeast of Manila, where ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  2 yrs on, MH370 kin want search extended

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Families devastated by the loss of flight MH370 vowed on Sunday never to quit fighting for answers in the aviation mystery and said the huge search for the Malaysia Airlines plane should continue until something is found. Families gathered for a poignant ceremony in Kuala Lumpur ahead of Tuesday’s second anniversary of the jet’s disappearance and ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  Back in captain’s seat

  

  He admits he took his eye off the ball: in hindsight, a bad move. And the airline empire he had created from practically nothing paid the price, said AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes. “I was getting a bit tired (of running the airline) so I backed off, watched football and did all those other things. I was on my way to ...

  Read More »
• 6 March

  Australia’s fashion opening in Beijing

  Last month the editor in chief of Vogue China got me thinking. I had never before put “fashion” and “China” in the same column. When I talk with friends about shopping destinations in Asia the list will run from Hong Kong to Singapore to Tokyo or Kuala Lumpur before anyone even contemplates Shanghai. Angelica Cheung admits China was late to ...

  Read More »