Telstra to buy Digicel Pacific for $1.6bn to block China influence
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Telstra said on Monday it agreed to buy the Pacific operations of telecom firm Digicel Group in a $1.6 billion deal largely funded by the Australian government and seen as a way to block China's rising influence in the region.
The government will front $1.33 billion of the total value, with Telstra contributing the rest, the Australian telco and a government statement said.
With China building its influence in the region, and months of market and media speculation surrounding Digicel
SYDNEY/TOKYO -- A wave of consolidation is sweeping across Australia's energy sector as leading players from BHP to Santos shift resources from oil and gas to greener fields like electric cars and hydrogen.
But as they gear up to fight global warming, analysts are concerned that takeover battles risk overheating corporate valuations.
Australia logged 1,180 mergers and acquisitions in January-September, according to financial information company Refinitiv. The figure is 16% higher than for the same period in 2019,
China moves to ease rules on government procurement for CPTPP
BEIJING -- China has taken a step toward easing rules that all but bar foreign companies from lucrative government procurement deals as the world's second-largest economy seeks to join a Pacific Rim trade deal.
Earlier this month, the finance ministry told local governments in an official notice that foreign-owned suppliers' "right to participate fairly in government procurement must be assured" as long as their products are made in China.
The timing of the instructions, which came after China announced a bid in September to join the
Container shipping crisis bites Japan's chicken and wine lovers
TOKYO -- Japanese consumers can count the toll of disruptions in global supply chains and shipping on their dinner plates.
The country's biggest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, has stopped selling fried chicken on skewers -- a popular snack -- in certain regions. Meanwhile, some restaurants have limited poultry offerings to a paltry single skewer per customer.
Chicken has become the most visible example of Japanese shortages stemming from Southeast Asia, where the coronavirus pandemic has slowed poultry processing plants in key supplier Thailand. But wine
Vaccine equity across Asia Pacific will strengthen global health
Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister of Australia from 2015-2018 and is a co-chair of the Reform for Resilience Commission. Syaru Shirley Lin is the Compton Visiting Professor at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia and Chair of the Asia-Pacific Hub of the Reform for Resilience Commission.
We all now know that the world is not safe until all are safe, but how can we accelerate the fight against COVID-19 when the virus continues to mutate and spread?
To better
Soaring fuel costs add to pressure on Asian currencies
TOKYO -- Currencies across Asia are feeling the pain as investors retreat from the region amid concerns about China's economic slowdown, soaring commodity prices and signs of global inflation.
Investors have reduced their exposure to the South Korean won, the Thai baht, the Japanese yen and other Asian currencies as the dollar gains strength, backed by expectations that the Federal Reserve is getting ready to raise interest rates as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, perhaps as soon as next year.
The 10-year U.S
Japan elections, COP26 and G-20 Rome summit
Welcome to Your Week in Asia.
The week is filled with a slew of companies reporting their latest earnings, followed by a busy weekend which will see the opening of the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). With countries expected to negotiate on and pledge emission targets for the coming decades, COP26 is seen to be "the world's best last chance to get runaway climate change under control," as the organizers put it.
Get the best
Xi's 'resolution on history': 3 things to know
BEIJING -- Top Chinese Communist Party officials are set to consider a key resolution that would leave President Xi Jinping's mark on the party's 100 years of history.
The "resolution on history" to be discussed at the Central Committee's plenary session next month would be only the third of its kind, after documents used by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping to reshape China's political landscape. Here are three things to know.
What are "resolutions on history?"
They are documents of
Japan Airlines books seats on British and German flying cars
TOKYO -- Japan Airlines has partnered with Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon Holdings to launch a flying car business in Japan.
Under the terms of the deal, JAL will have the right to purchase or lease up to 50 eVTOL, or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The machines are being developed by U.K.-based Vertical Aerospace Group.
The partnership also includes an option for JAL to purchase 50 additional eVTOL aircraft.
JAL also announced that it has placed an order with German air taxi startup Volocopter
Giant theme park and smart city to open near Jakarta in 2024
JAKARTA -- A project to build one of the largest theme parks in Southeast Asia is underway in the suburbs of Indonesia's capital.
The huge park is envisioned as a cross between Disneyland and Universal Studios and is scheduled to open in 2024 at the earliest. In addition to the theme park, there are plans to create a large smart city where overseas information technology companies will be invited to set up shop.
Undertaking the project is MNC Group, an emerging conglomerate whose main business is in media.
