International Business News - asiapacific http://www.ibtimes.com All articles are copyrighted by IBTimes.com 400 100 http://www.ibtimes.com/ http://www.ibtimes.com/images/top_logo_ibt2_3.gif Angry consumers blocked rail tracks and roads and shut down businesses in several parts of India for a second day Friday, protesting a hike in fuel prices by the government. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/fuel-price-hike-protests-hit-india.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:05:06 EDT Presidents, prime ministers and heads of state from the four candidates bidding for the 2016 Olympics are welcome to attend the IOC vote next year. The IOC had considered barring dignitaries from future votes on grounds that their presence would eclipse the proceedings. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/presidents-welcome-at-2016-olympics-vote.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:54:59 EDT Construction output in the United Kingdom was unchanged in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2007, the government reported Friday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/uk-1q-construction-output-holds-at-4q-level.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:54:07 EDT In an unprecedented move to keep illegal gambling and match-fixing out of the Olympics, the IOC is setting up a special unit to check for suspicious betting patterns during the Beijing Games. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/ioc-to-monitor-betting-during-beijing-olympics.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:51:22 EDT China will lead a delegation of companies to the U.S. to look for investment opportunities as the next round of an economic dialogue begins, Chinese officials said Friday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/chinese-companies-to-seek-deals-in-us.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:19:50 EDT Malaysia's government will not revise this week's drastic fuel price hikes despite opposition protests, a Cabinet minister said Friday, but he assured consumers that prices won't be raised again anytime soon. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/malaysia-defends-fuel-price-hikes.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:37:44 EDT The U.S. military has offered Myanmar 22 helicopters that could ferry relief to the majority of hungry and homeless cyclone survivors within three days--but the junta hasn't responded yet, military officials said Friday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/us-military-extends-aid-offer-to-myanmar.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:32:44 EDT The New York-based Human Rights Watch has criticized Bangladesh's military-backed interim government for alleged wholesale arrests of political activists. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/human-rights-watch-slams-bangladesh-arrests.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:10:00 EDT Celebrities he clothed and designers he inspired gathered for the funeral of Yves Saint Laurent, a sartorial revolutionary who changed the way generations of women dressed. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/fashion-bids-adieu-to-yves-saint-laurent.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:49:44 EDT Government data due out Friday is expected to show that the rate of consumer borrowing slowed in April, but Americans still racked up more debt on their credit cards. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/ahead-of-the-bell-consumer-credit.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:16:39 EDT The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65164-japan-iea-climate-change.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/study-trillion-needed-combat-warming.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/study-trillion-needed-combat-warming.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:15:57 EDT When Cindy Barclay asks visitors to her booth at the local farmers market if they want to try honey from downtown Albany, they're often shocked. "They think I'm joking or they have a hard time believing it's from right here, but it really is a draw for them," said Barclay, who maintains hives in her small backyard, just blocks from New York's Capitol. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65066-farm-scene-urban-beekeeping.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/urban-beekeeping-is-the-latest-buzz.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/urban-beekeeping-is-the-latest-buzz.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:33:26 EDT A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65040-blackwater-fight.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/blackwater-opens-san-diego-training-center.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/blackwater-opens-san-diego-training-center.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:47:34 EDT Shanghai's Jewish community celebrated the launch Friday of a database that will document the stories of the thousands of refugees who found a safe haven in China's commercial capital during World War II. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/new-database-on-legacy-of-shanghai-jews.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:39:21 EDT Japanese banks are saddled with $8 billion in losses linked to the bad housing credit problem in the United States, the government said Friday, a number that's still small compared to counterparts there and in Europe. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65004-home-foreclosures.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/japan-estimates-subprime-losses-at-8-billion.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/japan-estimates-subprime-losses-at-8-billion.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:04:00 EDT A jumbo black watermelon auctioned in Japan on Friday fetched a record $6,100, making it one of the most expensive watermelons ever sold in the country. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65291-black-watermelon.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/black-japanese-watermelon-sold-record-price.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/black-japanese-watermelon-sold-record-price.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:44:26 EDT China on Friday denied allegations that its operatives secretly copied the contents of a U.S. government laptop computer and used the data to try to hack into Commerce Department computers. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/64957-ukraine-us.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/china-denies-hacking-us-government-laptop-computer.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/china-denies-hacking-us-government-laptop-computer.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:42:39 EDT A contrite President Lee Myung-bak vowed Friday to take a "humble attitude" and senior presidential aides offered to quit, as South Koreans used a long weekend to pressure the government over a widely unpopular U.S. beef import deal. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/65075-south-korea-us-beef.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/south-korean-president-vows-humble-attitude.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/south-korean-president-vows-humble-attitude.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:35:57 EDT South Korea's president praised North Korea on Friday for making progress in international negotiations on its nuclear programs and called for talks with Pyongyang on stalled inter-Korean relations. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/64905-south-korea-memorial-day.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/south-korea-praises-north-korea-over-nuclear-issue.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/south-korea-praises-north-korea-over-nuclear-issue.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:27:16 EDT The most striking feature of this industrial city is that it looks so ordinary, but there was a time when Tangshan was pancaked by a natural disaster. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/64924-china-quake-of-76.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/china-disaster-stirs-memories-of-1976-quake.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/china-disaster-stirs-memories-of-1976-quake.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:34:28 EDT