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Huffington Post (UK) — 25 Aug 12 — No comments

The Tricky Business of Permanent Residency

[This article was first published here on The Huffington Post]

The jury is still out on the cost of providing fast-track residency to affluent foreigners

There are many ways in which modern societies are getting shaped across the world. Australia cast its vote recently in favour of crafting one by handpicking well heeled citizens from other countries.

On May 25, Australia’s Immigration Minister Chris Bowen unveiled a new visa scheme that offers wealthy migrants a fast-track residency provided they invest around $5 million into either government bonds or Australian companies.

In the normal course of the procedure, … Read the rest

Asia360 News (Singapore) — 4 Aug 12 — No comments

Bridge Over Troubled Waters (News Report)

The fate of Bangladesh’s biggest infrastructure project hangs in the balance

DHAKA — Asian funding agencies, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided much needed, albeit temporary relief to the government on July 31 choosing not to cancel their loan for the US$2.9 billion Padma bridge project, for another month.

The Padma bridge project has been in peril since the World Bank cut its US$1.2 billion credit line for the 6km-long road-rail bridge over the Padma River on June 30, citing corruption concerns, in particular the government’s failure to investigate claims of high-level fraud … Read the rest

Huffington Post (UK) — 4 Aug 12 — No comments

An Even Match

[This article was first published here on The Huffington Post]

A November 2011 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a US congressional advisory panel, urged the White House and US Congress to scrutinize China’s military expansion and pushed for a tougher stance against, what it dubbed as, anticompetitive Chinese trade policies.

While China’s military, which benefited from a threefold increase since the 1990s in the military budget to about US$160 billion in 2010, does not pose a threat to the US, it does so to many nations in the region. Apart from building ports … Read the rest

Asia360 News (Singapore) — 4 Aug 12 — 1 comment

Embracing the Last Resort (News Report)

India’s anti-graft crusaders hint at taking the fight against government into the political arena

NEW DELHI — Marking a departure from its traditional stand of staying “completely apolitical”, India’s ongoing anti-corruption movement on July 31 appeared to lean towards formation of a political alternative.

Addressing a crowd of thousands at Jantar Mantar Square in New Delhi, Prashant Bhushan, eminent lawyer and a senior member of Team Anna, the group leading the movement under the leadership of veteran social activist Anna Hazare, said, “It is time for an alternative politics to shape up. Power should return to the hands of … Read the rest

Asia360 News (Singapore) — 25 May 12 — No comments

Forgetting Nehru

Forty eight years after India’s first prime minister passed on, Jawaharlal Nehru is remembered when expedient and forgotten when convenient.

Nehru’s chequered legacy is used selectively by no less than his own party, the ruling Indian National Congress (INC).  Putting an abrupt end to his socialist programs with economic liberalisation policies in 1991, the Congress party nonetheless chose to kick-start its political campaign for the recent Uttar Pradesh (UP) state elections, with Nehru as a poster child.

Congress general secretary and the iconic leader’s great grandson Rahul Gandhi started his campaign from Phoolpur in UP, the seat that Nehru … Read the rest

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