Business Recorder! World syndication. http://www.brecorder.com Sun, 19 May 2013 09:11:58 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.brecorder.com/images/M_images/livemarks.png http://www.brecorder.com Business Recorder! World syndication. http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/120171-art-basel-to-bring-international-flair-to-hong-kong.html HONG KONG: Art lovers, collectors and gallerists will gather on Thursday for Hong Kong's inaugural edition of Art Basel, sealing the city's status as an international art hub and Asia's leading art destination.The four-day annual show is the world's premier art fair and has until now only been held in Switzerland and the United States each year. More than 2,000 international artists and 245 leading art galleries will come together for the event to be held in the city's waterfront convention centre."Art Basel really helps to affirm in people's minds the status of Hong Kong as the art destination in Asia," Art Basel Asia director Magnus Renfrew told AFP.It replaces Art HK, Hong Kong's former art fair which was set up in 2008 and recently taken over by the high-profile Swiss Art Basel franchise which has been showcasing modern and contemporary art since 1970. "It really helps to take this from being a fair of regional significance to one of global significance," says Renfrew, who also headed Art HK. "The quality of application this year was far greater than what we received previously, it's getting more difficult to get in."Renfrew and his team are predicting huge growth potential in the... Sun, 19 May 2013 03:58:55 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/africa/120170-boosting-ethiopiaa39s-economy-one-shoe-at-a-time-.html ADDIS ABABA: For Bethlehem Tilahun, the answer to ending poverty in Africa is not aid or sympathy or donations from the West. It's shoes.Specifically, building a successful shoe manufacturing business that creates jobs, empowers employees, like the one she founded SoleRebels, the first ever global footwear company to come out of a developing country."You don't build your economy based on aid, you want to build your economy based on the way SoleRebels built its business, so that it's sustainable," Bethlehem told AFP.SoleRebels highlights how burgeoning enterprises can transform economies across Africa.By shifting away from a reliance on exporting raw materials to the production of premium products such as shoes, Africa can ease its dependency on aid and slowly move toward industrialised growth.Founded in 2004, SoleRebels now employs around 150 Ethiopians producing shoes with hand-spun Ethiopian cotton, rubber and leather for export in over 65 stores around the world.She believes creating jobs, supporting local industries and transforming Africa's image abroad will have lasting impact on economies across the continent in ways that traditional aid cannot."That is sustainable, and that's the only way of getting out of poverty," she said, sitting in her flagship store in downtown Addis Ababa.With a growth rate... Sun, 19 May 2013 03:54:53 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/120169-japana39s-elderly-not-acting-their-age.html SAITAMA: When amateur actress Etsuko Shigemoto walks out in front of a Paris audience in an all-Japanese production this month she will forget about being 87 years old."I have weak hearing and poor sight. I have problems all over my body," she said. "But I am still young in spirit."Shigemoto is one of a troupe of elderly actors average age 74 under the tutelage of world-renowned director Yukio Ninagawa."I have already reached the afternoon of my life, but it's wonderful to spend my last days with the company," Shigemoto told AFP at a recent rehearsal in Saitama, near Tokyo. "I really like acting. This is what I live for."Ninagawa, whose directorial prowess has taken him to some of the world's finest theatres, founded the Saitama Gold Theatre seven years ago and made a rule of auditioning only people aged over 55. Acting experience is not required.He said he began the "experiment" to create a new style of theatre that would see older people take roles not usually open to them like the leads in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."To ordinary theatre people, it is an unconventional group," said Ninagawa, himself 77 years old.For him, the company is the antithesis of the... Sun, 19 May 2013 03:52:56 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/africa/120166-zimbabwea39s-top-rights-lawyer-wona39t-relent-.html JOHANNESBURG: As Zimbabwe approaches watershed elections, a renowned lawyer at the forefront of defending human rights activists, vowed never to give up even after her own arrest earlier this year.Beatrice Mtetwa spoke to journalists in Johannesburg Friday at the screening there of a film about her fight for the rule of law in Zimbabwe.Mtetwa was arrested in March when she went to represent clients during a raid of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's office. But she has refused to buckle under in the face of intimidation.She remains optimistic of change in Zimbabwe, a southern African country that has shifted from being a jewel of the continent to an international pariah during President Robert Mugabe's 33-year rule.Mtetwa's arrest for obstructing justice, a day after the country held a constitutional referendum in March, sparked international condemnation.She is hopeful that one day she will work under normal conditions in Zimbabwe."Things will change in Zimbabwe, whether for the better or worse, we don't know " said the 55-year-old internationally recognised lawyer.She holds out hope in the new constitution, which is expected to be signed into law by Mugabe soon."We are hoping that maybe the new constitution gives everyone a wake-up call. It has good clauses.... Sun, 19 May 2013 03:25:37 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/global-business-a-economy/120164-weak-yen-helps-drive-japan-earnings.html TOKYO: Japan's earnings season has drawn to a close with the sharply weaker yen helping inflate profits at some of the nation's top exporters, but, warn some commentators, the drop is not all good news.Sony booked its first annual profit in five years, Toyota more than tripled its earnings in the fiscal year to March and the head of rival automaker Nissan hailed the taming of the currency."I have been talking about the unbelievable strength of the yen for many years," Carlos Ghosn said after the firm released its earnings this month."I'm very happy to see that finally we are getting in neutral territory by having the yen at 100 yen to the dollar."In late 2011, the dollar hit a low around 75 yen, partially as a result of its safe-haven status when the euro area crisis and global uncertainty sent investors piling into the currency.Japanese firms wailed, bemoaning the rocketing cost of their products overseas and the shrinking value of their repatriated profits.Many scrambled to cut costs and shifted ever more production away from high-cost Japan.But things changed with the election last December of tough-talking Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promised a flood of government spending as he harangued... Sun, 19 May 2013 02:50:01 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/africa/120116-armed-tuareg-arab-groups-clash-in-northern-mali.html BAMAKO: Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with rebels affiliated to al Qaeda.Rebel and military sources both confirmed the clashes, although they differed over precisely which groups were involved.The violence highlights how pockets of fighters who escaped a four-month French-led offensive against the al Qaeda-linked militants in the north are undermining efforts to restore state authority ahead of a presidential election set for July 28. France said this week the 'terrorists' had been defeated.The MNLA, a Tuareg rebel group, said its forces were attacked in the town of Anefis by a column of Islamist fighters on Friday. Its Paris-based spokesman, Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, said fighting continued on Saturday morning, with two of the group's fighters and at least seven Islamists killed so far.The MNLA said it was fighting MUJWA, an Islamist group that occupied the town of Gao for months until earlier this year and has launched a series of guerrilla-style counter-attacks on the town since it was retaken in the French offensive.A Malian army officer, who asked not to be named, confirmed... Sat, 18 May 2013 12:22:11 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/europe/120111-supporters-opponents-of-ukraine-president-clash-in-kiev.html KIEV: Supporters and opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich scuffled as both sides held large rallies in the capital Kiev on Saturday, police and local media said.A dozen young men hurled stones and plastic water bottles at opposition supporters and were then pushed away by police in riot gear, television footage showed.Anti-Yanukovich protesters also fought back and at one point some of them tried to drag the crew from a military vehicle that carried messages mocking opposition leaders, pictures showed."Several people have been injured," police said in a statement, adding that they had intervened to end the fight which happened a block away from the main opposition rally.Pro-Western Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), liberal UDAR (Punch) and far-right Svoboda have been holding rallies across Ukraine, accusing Yanukovich of failing to pursue his declared goal of European integration, and demanding the release of jailed Batkivshchyna leader, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.Tymoshenko, a leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution protests that derailed Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 on charges of abuse of office in a case the West has called politically motivated.The European Union has indicated that Tymoshenko's continued imprisonment would make it impossible to... Sat, 18 May 2013 11:35:58 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/africa/120110-armed-groups-bomb-libyan-military-posts-in-benghazi.html BENGHAZI: Armed groups attacked military posts in Libya's second city Benghazi with bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, an army commander said on Saturday.Nearly two years after the uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, the government still exerts little control over the armed brigades that helped overthrow him.Oil-producer Libya is largely split into fiefdoms of such brigades that are competing for influence.No one was hurt in the four overnight attacks on three Benghazi army posts, said the military commander, Hamed Belkhair. Homemade bombs were thrown in three of the attacks and a rocket-propelled grenade was fired in the fourth, he said.The army had sent extra forces to the eastern city after a car laden with explosives blew up near a hospital there on Monday, killing three people. Attacks on police stations have become a frequent occurrence in recent weeks."The national army is being subjected to these attacks because they are doing a great job of cleaning the city of criminals' shelters," said Belkhair.Copyright Reuters, 2013 Sat, 18 May 2013 11:31:58 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/south-asia/120107-sri-lanka-tamils-defy-ban-on-rebel-memorial.html COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's main opposition Tamil party on Saturday defied a military ban and staged a commemoration of their war dead as the government celebrated the fourth anniversary of defeating Tamil Tiger rebels.The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said it staged the remembrance in the northern town of Vavuniya for those who died in the final battle which also killed Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his entire top leadership."We had a meeting to commemorate all those who died in the conflict," TNA lawmaker Suresh Premachandran told AFP from Vavuniya, 260 kilometres (162 miles) north of Colombo.The event came as Sri Lankan troops held a parades in the capital to mark the victory over Tamil Tiger rebels and an end to 37 years of ethnic bloodshed.The state-run Daily News said the Vavuniya meeting was illegal and warned anyone commemorating the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be jailed.Witnesses said the TNA-led ceremony ended peacefully amid a heavy police presence in the area, a front-line town near the former war zone in the island's north.In the capital Colombo, President Mahinda Rajapakse viewed the military parade showcasing heavy weapons used against the Tigers who were known for their ferocious suicide bomb... Sat, 18 May 2013 10:42:49 +0100 http://www.brecorder.com/world/africa/120105-residents-flee-after-nigeria-air-raids-on-insurgent.html KANO: Residents of an insurgent stronghold in northeast Nigeria fled their homes on Saturday as military fighter jets and helicopters carried out heavy air strikes on Boko Haram camps. Nigeria launched a massive offensive against Boko Haram this week, deploying several thousand troops across three states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency after the insurgent seized territory and chased out the government. Dozens of insurgents have been killed in the fighting, the military has said, without offering a specific figure. A security source who requested anonymity told AFP that a helicopter was hit by Boko Haram gunfire, but "managed to rush back to base without sustaining any casualty."Nigeria's offensive is targeting all three states put under emergency decree, including Adamawa and Yobe, but the Boko Haram's traditional base of Borno is expected to see the most intense fighting.In Marte district of Borno state, some residents have started fleeing east towards the Cameroon border, less than 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) away."It has been scary in the past three days," said Buba Yawuri, whose home is in the town of Kwalaram in Marte but who has fled to the border town Gomboru Ngala."Fighter jets and helicopters kept hovering in... Sat, 18 May 2013 10:33:39 +0100