Asia-Pacific

CHINA     Slowdown: Automakers are seeing sales growth tail off in China. China’s consumer price index (CPI) grew by only 4.9% in August, its mildest pace in more than a year, and export growth slowed to 21%, according to ...

ECONOMIC UPDATE / CHINA As the dust settles after the Olympic games, China is facing a less certain economic future.     Relentless progress: Construction work in Beijing's booming central business district. China opened the 29th Olympic games on August ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES/INDIA Infosys Technologies, India’s second-largest IT services provider, announced a $755 million cash deal to buy UK-based Axon, which advises companies on installing business software created by SAP of Germany. If the transaction is completed, it ...

CHINA’S AUTO MARKET REMAINS IN FAST LANE COMPANY TO WATCH     China’s love affair with the automobile shows no sign of cooling. The world’s most populous country is also the fastest-growing new-car market, with sales increasing at a rate ...

China opened the 29th Olympic Summer Games in Beijing on August 8 with a ceremony incorporating 15,000 performers and 29,000 fireworks shells and attended by US president George Bush, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and other world leaders. China spent a ...

INDIA     Manmohan Singh: Has more scope to enact reforms. India’s ruling coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Manmohan Singh, survived a vote of no confidence in late July after the three communist parties in parliament said ...

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK COUNTRY REPORT / INDONESIA Indonesia has made great improvements recently but some persistent problems are still holding it back.     Clear skies ahead? Jakarta has worked hard to improve access for foreign investors. ...

SOUTH KOREA       Lee Myung-bak: Beef deal sees president's approval rating plunge. Lee Myung-bak, the former Hyundai executive who was elected president of South Korea by a landslide last December, refers to himself as “CEO of Korea.” His ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: PT ADARO ENERGY/INDONESIA     Jakarta-based PT Adaro Energy, the holding company of Indonesia’s second-largest coal producer, raised $1.32 billion in the country’s biggest initial public offering ever by selling 34.8% of its share capital. PT Danatama ...

NEWS     KSK Emerging India Energy Fund (KEF) raised $200 million in June on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). It was the fourth India-focused company to raise funds on AIM in as many weeks. The equity offering came at ...

INDIA/UNITED STATES               Global Finance's sponsored charity, Amrit Davaa, delousing children at Manjushree orphanage.       In early June Global Finance’s partner charity Amrit Davaa embarked on its second mission to Tawang, a ...

INDIA               RBI governor YV Reddy may tighten interest rates.   Indian banks have continued to grow credit at a very rapid pace since the start of the new fiscal year on April 1. ...

A GIANT COUNTRY WITH GIANT CHALLENGES COUNTRY REPORT / KAZAKHSTAN Vast hydrocarbon reserves and financial regulators known for their toughness are helping Kazakhstan ride out an abrupt economic slowdown and a housing crunch. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev at the opening ...

CHINA               Fuel up: China's rising inflation rate is causing official concern.       China and Taiwan agreed in June to open representative offices in each other’s capitals to promote better communication between ...

CHINA     China's president Hu Jintao aims to improve relations with Japan.   Rescue workers on May 14 reached southwestern China’s Weixian county, the epicenter of an earthquake that shook cities across Asia and damaged 70% to 80% of ...

INDIA     India's construction industry promises rich returns. Bharti Airtel, India’s largest wireless company, with 62 million subscribers, is in talks with MTN of South Africa to acquire between 51% and 100% of that company. The deal could potentially ...

CHINA     Pro-Tibetan protests have dogged the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. China upwardly revised its 2006 and 2007 gross domestic product (GDP) growth numbers, pushing the country closer to surpassing Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy. According ...

COUNTRY REPORT: THE PHILIPPINES The Philippines seems to be avoiding the worst of the global market slowdown, but there have been a few hiccups along the way.   The financial Makati district in Manila is not feeling the pinch of ...

INDIA     Reaching out: The US hopes its firms can win a slice of India's $500 billion spending spree. Bhopal Medical College Trust is the first Indian project to reap the benefits of US Export-Import Bank’s (Ex-Im Bank) Indian ...

THE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON   Often uneasy neighbors and fierce competitors, India and China are finding ways to cooperate as their influence on the global economy grows.     India's prime minister Manmohan Singh and China's premier Wen Jiao ...