Businessman paid for Vietnam bank governor's son to attend British university to 'curry favour', court hears

SFO takes tough line on bribery by foreign companies  Photo: REUTERS

A business tycoon “desperate” to secure a £90million printing contract paid for the son of a Vietnamese bank governor to attend a British university to "curry favour", a court has heard. 

Bill Lowther, 73, is accused of paying £18,000 in tuition fees and thousands of pounds more for student accommodation for the son of a Vietnamese bank governor to attend Durham University.

China's princelings come of age in new leadership

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING | Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:19pm EST

Xi's ascension, along with the other members of the red aristocracy, came at an awkward moment for the princelings.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, China's new leaders, from left, Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, and Zhang Gaoli, arrive for a press conference after being elected members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee of China's Communist Party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 15. (AP Photo/Xinhua)

(Reuters) - In China they are known as "princelings" — the privileged children of the revolutionary founders of the People's Republic of China. And in the generational leadership change that just took place in Beijing, it could not have been clearer that having the right family bloodlines is among the most important attributes an ambitious cadre could possess.

Foreign Policy Under Xi Jinping

By M. Taylor Fravel

Following the conclusion of the 18^th Party Congress, a new Politburo Standing Committee, the top leadership body of the Chinese Communist Party, has been named.  Much of the recent commentary has revolved around whether or how China’s new leaders will pursue much-needed economic and political reforms.  An equally important question concerns the future direction of Chinese foreign policy under Xi Jinping.

Euro Ministers Take Third Swing at Clearing Greek Payment

Antonis Samaras, Greece's prime minister, center, arrives to speak at a news conference following the European Union (EU) leaders summit meeting at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. Photograph: Jock Fistick 

Euro-area finance ministers try for the third time this month to clear an aid payment to Greece and forge a blueprint to keep the country a solvent member of the currency bloc.

Finance chiefs from the 17-member single currency return to Brussels today, less than a week after an all-night meeting failed to yield agreement and days after a European Union summit broke up without a proposed seven-year budget. At stake at the euro meeting is the continuation of a three-year mission to return Greece to financial health.

Fiscal Cliff Talks Sure to Rattle Wall Street Nerves

By RODRIGO CAMPOS, Reuters

November 24, 2012

 

Volatility is the name of this game.
With the S&P 500 above 1,400 following five days of gains, traders will be hard pressed not to cash in on the advance at the first sign of trouble during negotiations over tax hikes and spending cuts that resume next week in Washington. President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders are expected to discuss ways to reduce the budget deficit and avoid the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in 2013 that could tip the economy into recession.

How Big Banks Can Spread Bigger Financial Ills

By The Staff of FUTURITY.ORG, Futurity.org

November 25, 2012

 

Looking at large national and international banks in terms of ecosystem stability and contagion models reveals that their influence and potential power for destruction far exceeds their actual size.

Vietnam’s November Inflation Accelerates to 6-Month High

(Bloomberg) – Vietnam’s inflation quickened to a six-month high as health care and education costs climbed.
Consumer prices gained 7.08 percent in November from a year earlier, after rising 7 percent in October, the General Statistics Office in Hanoi said today. That was the biggest increase since May and the third straight acceleration. Prices rose 0.47 percent from the previous month.

Analysis: "Caveat emptor" as foreigners rush to ride China rebound

By Vikram Subhedar

HONG KONG | Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:33pm EST

Investors look at computer screens showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai in this June 8, 2012 file photo. Foreign investors have started rebuilding their China equity portfolios, tempted by low valuations after two years of market underperformance and signs economic growth may be stabilizing. They have pumped nearly $4 billion (2 billion pounds) into Chinese equity funds in the past two months alone, trying to get in early on what they hope will be a sustained rally. Picture taken June 8, 2012. 

(Reuters) - Foreign investors have started rebuilding their China equity portfolios, tempted by low valuations after two years of market underperformance and signs economic growth may be stabilizing.
They have pumped nearly $4 billion into Chinese equity funds in the past two months alone, trying to get in early on what they hope will be a sustained rally.

China's role in Southeast Asia questioned

FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, China's Premier Wen Jiabao, right, chats with U.S. President Barack Obama, left, as Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen stands between them during a family photo at the 7th East Asia Summit Plenary Session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. China's finding the once friendly ground of Southeast Asia bumpy going, with anger against Chinese claims to disputed islands, once reliable ally Myanmar flirting with democracy and renewed American attention to the region. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

BEIJING (AP) - China is finding the once friendly ground of Southeast Asia bumpy going, with anger against Chinese claims to disputed islands, once reliable ally Myanmar flirting with democracy and renewed American attention to the region.

Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family

Ping An, one of China’s largest financial services companies, is building a 115-story office tower in Shenzhen. The company is a $50 billion powerhouse now worth more than A.I.G., MetLife or Prudential. 

SHENZHEN, China — The head of a financially troubled insurer was pushing Chinese officials to relax rules that required breaking up the company in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.  

The survival of Ping An Insurance was at stake, officials were told in the fall of 1999. Direct appeals were made to the vice premier at the time, Wen Jiabao, as well as the then-head of China’s central bank — two powerful officials with oversight of the industry.