Asia Africa Intelligence Wire articles from November 2005

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire archives from November 2005

Dash For Cash.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Anand Adhikari The auditorium of the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in south Mumbai is often host to theatrical productions that range from the traditional to the experimental. In...

Treadmill, All About Depression, Printed Circuit.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Muscles Mani, Roopali Joshi, Kushan Mitra and Alokesh Bhattacharyya The All-in-one Lift Quick, what's the one weightlifting exercise that works out the muscles of your back, glutes (butt),...

Mutual Funds Jobs, Help, Tarun!, Sub-brokers, Anyone?, Temps: Rights & Responsibilities.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Mahesh Nayak, Tarun Sheth, Shailesh Dobhal, Amanpreet Singh MUTUAL FUND JOBS The Mutual Calling The thriving mutual funds industry is in dire need of people-from chief investment...

Basic Economics, Not Advanced Human Resources Development.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R. Sukumar Five is a difficult age for a survey. Five sets of data points, common sense suggests, should be enough to identify trends (and make sweeping statements sanctioned by data). Then, 10...

Strategic Disconnect.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R. Sukumar END OF THE LINE By Leslie Cauley Free Press PP: 301 Price: Rs 1,170 Not too long ago, wired, one of the few magazines that believes that form matters as much as...

The Good Life Just Got Better.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Ashish Gupta It's tempting to draw a parallel between the new-look English cricket line-up skippered by Michael Vaughan and the Niall S.K. Booker-led team at the Indian operations of the Hongkong...

The Worst Employer in India.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R.S. Today: I am sitting opposite my HR manager. She isn't the head of HR at the company or something; cannon fodder (that's people like me) rarely meets the Big Fish. And suddenly I want to ask...

Speak Up, You Are At Sapient.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Amanpreet Singh Raise your Spirits, Raise them High, Search for Tars (errors in codes), And say Bye, Bye. (Claps all around) It's nine in the morning at Sapient's Gurgaon...

All Play And Some Work.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Nitya Varadarajan Covansys-ians come to work on Friday in informal wear; the only caveat: jeans aren't allowed. "They used to come in ragged and frayed ones," says K. Subrahmaniam, President and...

A Closely Knit Workplace.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Rahul Sachitanand It's just seven years old, and is already among the most preferred employers in the country. it services company MindTree Consulting had come in at # 11 on our 2003 list, but...

The Best And The Rest.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Nitin Dheer & Mehgha Sahni Namrata sits at her workstation, a little winded. She had woken up that day a trifle lost.... The last four weeks seemed to have gone by in the wink of an eye. Here she...

"We Make Money Everywhere Except The US".
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R. Sridharan In the four years that William Clay Ford, Jr. has been the CEO of Ford Motor Company, things haven't panned out exactly as planned. The Detroit major is continuing to lose share in...

Quadrant-1, 2, 3, 4.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) QUADRANT-1 The Acid Test Employees decide how good an employer a company is. That's only fair. In 2003, Infosys technologies, which had emerged the best company to work for in India in the 2001...

The Fairy Tale Spins On.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Anand Adhikari He's one of India's most respected bank CEOs, yet Aditya Puri doesn't fit snugly into an archetypal banker's double-breasted suit. The 55-year-old chief of the country's second...

How We Did It.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Five years ago, business today pioneered the concept of workplace surveys in India. Last year, we tweaked the methodology some, changed partners and pioneered what we believe is a process that will set the...

Where Employee Is King.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Rahul Sachitanand Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, apple Computers, and the very Indian Sasken Communication Technologies have something in common. They are all garage start-ups. Sasken, then, has...

A Circle Sealed Thus.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Rahul Sachitanand When hurricane Rita tore across vast stretches of the United States, Infosys Technologies, a very Indian company, found itself in a position where it had to arrive at a snap...

Why Is Cisco's John Chambers Investing $1.16 Billion In India?
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R. Sukumar Keep an eye on this guy," says john t. Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco, to one of his aides, pointing to Rangu Salgame, President (South Asia), Cisco Systems. "He's going to go...

Building On The Legacy.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Archna Shukla If there's one company that shouldn't have made our Best Companies to Work for in India, 2005 list this year, it's Genpact, the erstwhile GE Capital International Services or Gecis....

Employees First.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Sahad P.V. HCL Comnet has a rather unique way of informing employees about its internal goings on. Instead of printing newsletters, as is the norm in most places, it blares entertainment...

A School For Employees.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Ashish Gupta If attrition rates and average service tenures were the only indicators of employee satisfaction, then people at India's premier power generation company, National Thermal Power...

Ten Years After.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Ten Years After Since 2000, when this magazine pioneered the concept of best-employer surveys-essentially exercises with the objective of identifying the best companies to work for in India-the...

The Perfect Portfolio.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Sahad P.V., Anand Adhikari, Vaishna Roy, Mahesh Nayak, Sahad P.V. So the market is in a correction mode. The BSE Sensex is off by over 10 per cent from its recently scaled peak of 8,800. Analysts...

Zero Sum Game.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Ashish Gupta The inter-linked global economy is sometimes a zero sum game. Peter's loss is Paul's gain; so when us Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan sneezes, RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy catches a...

Tears For Bangalore.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Rahul Sachitanand BANGALORE Monday October 24, Tuesday October 25, Wednesday October 26 I wake up to a flooded Bangalore. The rain began to fall on Saturday morning, just over 36 hours...

Painting The Bigger Picture.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Krishna Gopalan NAME: Anand Mahindra AGE: 50 years DESIGNATION: Vice Chairman & MD COMPANY: Mahindra & Mahindra There's been plenty of action from Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M)...

Just Who Is Xenitis?
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: Ritwik Mukherjee The appointment was for 2 p.m. it's past 4 p.m; we've been waiting for two hours, but there's still no sign of Santanu Ghosh or Tathagata Dutta, co-promoters of the Xenitis...

Full Traction.
November 20, 2005... (From Business Today (India)) Byline: R. Sridharan, Krishna Gopalan, Shailesh Dobhal, Venkatesha Babu, Kumarkaushalam and Ahona Ghosh Full Traction Usually, when bureaucrats near retirement, they'll do anything to get another...

Media Release: Asia Dekor Holdings Limited.
November 15, 2005... (From MediaNet Press Release Wire) MEDIA RELEASE PR20633 Asia Dekor Holdings Limited Announces September 2005 Interim Results SINGAPORE, Nov. 14/XinhuaPRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- Turnover of RMB 292,953,000 - Up 25.5% Net Profit of RMB...

Thailand: Banpu Plc to expand coal mining ventures in China.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Banpu Plc, the country's largest coal mining operator, is looking to raise its investment in China over the next several years, the Bangkok Post reports. The company, which reported...

Thailand: High-priced cars see lower sales due to petrol price rises and strong competition.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - Higher fuel prices and stiff competition have sent the sales of high-end automobiles in Thailand down across the board this year, says Karl-Heinz Heckhausen, the president of...

Thailand: PTT Plc reports 52% jump in Q3 profits.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - The state energy conglomerate PTT Plc last Friday reported third-quarter profits of 24 billion baht, a 52% gain year-on-year thanks to high energy prices and investment gains from...

Thailand: Government to sell 5-year bonds paying 6.25% interest.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - The Finance Ministry will put two billion baht worth of five-year savings bonds on sale from Tuesday to Thursday, offering an annual return of 6.25%, the Bangkok Post reports. Pannee...

Thailand: TA Orange obtains BlackBerry CorRect services from KPMG.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - TA Orange has announced an agreement with the local accounting and business consultancy KPMG Phoomchai to provide BlackBerry CorRect services, the Bangkok Post reports. TA Orange,...

Thailand: ITV Plc reports sharply higher Q3 profits.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - ITV Plc, the television broadcaster owned by Shin Corp, reported a net profit of 168 million baht for the third quarter, more than double the profit earned in the same period last year....

Thailand: Post Publishing reports sharply lower Q3 profit.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Post Publishing Plc, the publisher of the Bangkok Post and Post Last Saturday daily newspapers, last Friday reported a third-quarter net profit of 27 million baht, down 36% from 42.56...

Thailand: Minor International reports sharply higher Q3 profit.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Minor International (MINT), the country's largest hospitality food business operator, last Friday reported a net profit for the third quarter of 240.2 million baht, an increase of 50%...

Thailand: Thai Nakarin Hospital to float 30 million shares in IPO.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Thai Nakarin Hospital will float 30 million shares in an initial public offering later this month with a listing on the Market for Alternative Investment expected in mid-December, the...

Thailand: Mobile phone service provider AIS reports lower Q3 profit.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Mobile phone leader Advanced Info Service last Friday reported a third-quarter net profit of 4.41 billion baht, a 16.2% decline from the same period last year, the Bangkok Post reports....

Thailand: Shin Corp reports decline in Q3 profit.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Shin Corp, reported a third--quarter profits of 1.97 billion baht, a 10.3% decline from the year before as a result of lower investment results from its subsidiaries and affiliates, the...

Thailand: CS Loxinfo reports sharply lower Q3 profit.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - CS LoxInfo (CSL), the Internet service provider 40.2% owned by Shin Satellite Plc, last Friday reported a third-quarter net profit of 71.26 million baht, a decline of 34% from 107.78...

Asean to form closer ties with Japan and South Korea.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Regional News - Japanese and South Korean business leaders will show up in force to promote closer Asean-Japan economic cooperation later this month, signaling the recovery of its economic growth, The...

Thailand: Attorney plans to get court to issue gag order on prime minister's nemesis.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thana Benjathikul, the prime minister's lawyer, said on Friday that next week he would file libel suit against Sondhi Limthongkul, a fierce critic of Thaksin who routinely lambastes the...

Thailand: Bird flu cases found in Suphan Buri.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - A new outbreak of birf-flu virus among poultry has been detected in Suphan Buri, Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said Friday, The Nation reports. The latest outbreak was...

Thailand: Leading universities conduct research to find solution to southern insurgency.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Chula, Thammasat, Mahidol, Songkhla Nakarin universities conducting reserach, The Nation reports. The National Reconciliation Commission has assigned four leading universities to conduct...

Thailand: Government hopes to reach compromise with teachers on school decentralisation.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - As protests by teachers spread in the North and Northeast, the government remains optimistic about reaching an amicable solution concerning the transfer of schools from the central to...

Thailand: Cabinet to examine mega project proposals in detail.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Tuesday will see detailed discussion of transport, water and housing, The Nation reports. Mega-projects proposed to the Cabinet earlier this month are to be considered in detail at...

Thailand: Young Bangkok boy comes down with bird flu.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - An 18-month-old boy was confirmed on Saturday to be infected with the H5N1 virus, becoming Bangkok's first confirmed bird-flu victim, doctors said, The Nation reports. The boy...

Thailand: Villagers march for Forest Community Bill.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - A Chiang-Mai-to-Bangkok "Long Walk for the Forest Community Bill" by 99 villagers from the North reached Lamphun's Muang (city) district on Saturday and received a warm welcome from local...

Thailand: Hinduism thrives in Buddhist Thailand.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - India's pantheon still exercises its old power in Buddhist city, The Nation reports. For generations, Hindu gods and goddesses have occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of...

Thailand: Opposition leader points to criticisms of prime minister's leadership style.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Government and Politics - Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday portrayed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an undemocratic leader in spite of his popular mandate, The Nation reports. ...

Thailand: Poll finds Thai mothers are a source of emotional support for teenagers.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - A considerable proportion of Thai teens say they feel enough stress to consider committing suicide but that their mothers had enough impact on them to make them drop the idea, according...

Thailand: Muslim teachers murdered in Narathiwat.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Suspected Islamic militants have shot dead a Muslim school teacher in the restive South, breaking three days of relative quiet in the volatile region, police said on Saturday, The Nation...

Thailand: Thaksin and Sondhi are like a cobra and a mongoose.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Commentary - They once cherished a chummy relationship - a senior journalist-cum-business tycoon hobnobbing with a powerful politician-cum-billionaire together aiming for high stakes through their...

Thailand: NBC member discusses changes in Thai broadcast media.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - A member of the new National Broadcasting Commission explains the changes that will revolutionise Thai broadcast media, The Nation reports. Now that the Senate has endorsed the...

Thailand: Public sentiment against prime minister gains momentum.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Editorial - Friday's massive rally in Lumpini Park highlights growing public unease with the administration, The Nation reports. It was arguably the biggest anti-Thaksin rally in Bangkok since the...

New cases of deadly bird flu reported in Asia, Mideast.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Regional News - Kuwait has found the deadly H5N1 variety of avian flu in one of two infected birds culled by authorities. The strain was found in a migrating flamingo, while a second, imported bird...

Bird flu, trade top APEC agenda.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Regional News - Thousands of delegates begin high-level discussions in Busan, South Korea, on Monday ahead of the annual two-day leaders' meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. High on...

Cambodia ratifies controversial treaty with Vietnam.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Regional News - The Cambodian parliament has ratified a controversial border agreement with Vietnam, following a government campaign to suppress dissent over the issue. All 97 lawmakers present at...

Thai ISP CS Loxinfo expects to have 30 per cent broadband customers in 2006.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - CS Loxinfo predicts that 30 per cent of its Internet customers will be using broadband Internet services by the end of next year, a report in Krungthep Turakij said. Twenty per cent...

International Engineering of Thailand to increase capital.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - The board of International Engineering (IEC) has proposed selling 784.5 million capital increase shares in a private placement, a report in Krungthep Turakij said. At a meeting on...

Thai oil giant PTT reports increased profits for the third quarter.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - PTT and its subsidiaries made combined net profits of 24 billion baht in the third quarter, a report in Krungthep Turakij said. In the third quarter PTT and its subsidiaries made...

Thai coal company Banpu to increase investments in China.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Banpu plans to invest $300 million in China over the next few years, a report in Krungthep Turakij said. The CEO of Banpu said that Banpu planned to increase the weighting of its...

Real estate sales in Thailand slowed in the third quarter.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - Many property development companies suffered a drop in sales in the third quarter, according to a report in Krungthep Turakij. High oil prices and other factors caused many consumers...

Thailand to reduce import taxes on printing materials.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - The Ministry of Finance is preparing to propose a reduction of import taxes on goods used in the printing and publishing industry, Krungthep Turakij reported. In order to reduce...

Thailand's IEC reports increased losses for third quarter.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - International Engineering (IEC) lost 287 million baht in the third quarter, Krungthep Turakij reported. IEC reported net losses of 287 million baht for the third quarter, up 868 per...

Thai Unique Coil Centre to make an IPO of 85 million shares.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Corporate News - Thai Unique Coil Centre (TUCC) is preparing to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Krungthep Turakij reported. TUCC is preparing to make its IPO of 85 million shares. TUCC will...

Thailand: Education Ministry launches 4-year plan for university education development.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng announced Sunday that the so-called road map to improve the quality of Thailand's higher education over the next four years is now completed. ...

Thailand: Buddhist monks and Reconciliation Commission dialogue in Pattani Province.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - A senior Buddhist monk in this troubled southern province today told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that laymen and monks wanted to live peaceflly and safely as regards...

Thailand: Prime Minister defends proper use of Tamiflu antiviral medicine.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Sunday that Tamiflu antiviral medicine is not dangerous if bird flu patients take it under the close supervision of doctors. Mr. Thaksin's...

Thailand and Belgium ink extradition, crime investigation treaties.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thailand and Belgium have signed two criminal law cooperation treaties, one covering the extradition of offenders and the other concerning the investigation of crimes. The treaties...

Next round of Thai-US Free Trade Agreement talks in London this week.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Economy - The Thai-US Free Trade Agreement negotiators will meet in London on November 14-17. The Thai side wants to push for an agreement on the "rule of origins" to allow greater access to the US...

Thailand: Officers on alert to foil planned trafficking of large-scale drugs during Loy Krathong festival.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thai Police in this northernmost province have tightened their patrol following intelligence reports that several million speed pills from Laos and Myanmar will be smuggled into Thailand...

Only 65% of cell phone subscribers in Thailand's deep South registered as deadline nears.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Only 65 per cent of more than 400,000 mobile phone subscribers in Thailand's deep South using pre-paid SIM cards have registered their phones to date although only three days are left...

Thai PM praises security officers in deep South.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Expressing great confidence that the violence evidenced in Thailand's restive South will improve, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Satruday morning praised security officers in the three...

Thailand-Italy agree to develop cluster manufacturing.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - Thailand aims to become a manufacturing hub for fashion garments and processed food in the region within the next three years following cooperation with Italy in developing cluster...

Thailand and China clinch new agreement on rice for railway engines.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thailand and China have agreed on a new barter arrangement, trading Thai rice for Chinese railway locomotives, according to Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Khun Ying Sudarat...

Thailand-Turkey agree to strengthen ties and cooperation in all areas.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thailand and Turkey will strengthen ties and cooperation in all areas and Thailand will welcome Turkish firms to join the country's mega projects, worth US$45 billion or Bt 1.8 trillion,...

Thailand: No cover-ups of bird flu, says Public Health Minister.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Thailand's newly-appointed Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat says there have been no cover-ups of any bird flu incidents in Thailand, and that any public health officials found...

EU will continue to import cooked Thai chicken, even with vaccine.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - The European Union (EU) will continue to import cooked Thai chicken even though an avian flu vaccine is used in the country, a senior EU official has promised. "If Thailand decides...

Thailand's repo likely to rise to 4.75% in mid 2006.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Economy - Thailand's 14-day repurchase rate (repo) is likely to increase to 4.75 per cent, close to the United States' key interest rates, in the middle of next year and begin to decline in the second...

Thailand benefits from ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Scheme.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: Business News - Thai manufacturers have substantially benefited from a regional industrial project, called the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Scheme (AICO), with combined investment value surpassing...

Thai PM begins official visit to Turkey.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began his official visit to Turkey on Thursday, the last leg of his ongoing trip abroad after Kenya. The prime minister left for Ankara, Turkey's...

Thailand: Agriculture Ministry prepares for next year drought.
November 15, 2005... (From Thai Press Reports) Section: General News - Plans are being made to reduce the impact of drought, especially in Thailand's arid northeastern region, during the approaching dry season next year. Agriculture and Cooperatives...