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China today announced it had begun construction of the world's longest sea bridge – barely 18 months after opening the current record-holder. The Y-shaped link between Hong Kong, Macau and China will be around 50km (31 miles) long in total, 35km of which will span the sea, said the state news agency Xinhua. Due to be completed by 2015, the 73bn yuan (£6.75bn) cost of the bridge will be shared by the authorities in the three territories.

Workers assembling vehicles at the SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co production line in Liuzhou, Guangxi. GM and SAIC together operate eight joint ventures in the country. [Agencies] General Motors Co on Friday said it has set up a $100 million joint venture in Hong Kong along with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp Group (SAIC) to focus on the Asian markets. As part of this, the new venture would bring under its umbrella all the Indian operations of GM including the two vehicle manufacturing facilities, a power train unit and the nationwide distribution network. GM would also produce and sell small cars and mini-commercial...

Today, the White House holds its “Jobs Summit” stunt. It’s typical Washington-think: Assemble interest groups and concoct special tax credits and handouts to the politically connected. What conceit. The political class think that economies revolve around them, that Washington makes things happen, that politicians are the most important players. Today’s Washington Post suggests that the way to create jobs is public spending by the federal government: Obama's options are limited, as the administration already has signaled that it is unwilling to make any investments that would add significantly to the nation's ballooning deficit. At least the Administration talks about the...

Oct 22, 2009 — “We have kept the creationist barbarians from the gate,” announced a professor at Hong Kong University triumphantly. A news article in Science this week described tensions in the city over the teaching of evolution. The Darwinists won a vote over a change in wording in the science curriculum that would have “opened the door to teaching creationism and intelligent design in secondary schools.” The door must be shut tight, apparently. Even the possibility of this happening created a furore. Reporter Richard Stone said, “As a year of honoring Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution draws...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin vaulted herself onto the world stage on September 22nd, giving her first paid speech since resigning from the Alaska governor's office in July. Palin spoke to a meeting of investment fund managers in Hong Kong. While the speech was closed to the media, excepts of the 80 minute speech were made available on Sarah Palin's Facebook page. Among other important topics, Palin spoke about the role of the Federal Reserve, U.S.-China relations and her objections to the bailouts of banks and other industries by the government. Below are excerpts from Sarah Palin's speech:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin emerged from a two-month absence from public view with a private talk, heavy on foreign policy, to a group of investors in Hong Kong. Palin was paid an undisclosed amount, said to be in the low six figures, for the 90-minute speech. She has said one of the reasons she resigned was to pay legal bills that have topped $500,000. The speech was closed to reporters, but Palin later posted lengthy excerpts on her Facebook page. "This speech had very little to do with advancing her political career and more to do with advancing her...

Click on pic for AP clip on Palins speech in Hong Kong. Q&A at the Airport.

I'm surprised Congressman Berman would release such a statement considering that he's deemed one of the somewhat rational far-left liberals on foreign policy. But I suppose a far-left liberal is a far-left liberal. Before he dives into his counterargument to Palin's speech, he wants us to "[l]eav[e] aside the propriety of criticizing the president while on her first trip to Asia." Berman must have missed the reviews of her speech, where she was credited for not criticizing Obama directly. In contrast, then Senator Obama criticized President Bush by name in this interview with Lara Logan when he visited Afghanistan. I...

These remarks were made in Hong Kong, not the United Nations building. The speaker was not the current President of the United States, who is sadly irrelevant to the cause of freedom. It was Sarah Palin - who is, for the moment, the de facto leader of the free world. In the best of times, the President is also the leader of the free world, putting American economic and military power behind the cause of freedom. Instead, Barack Obama is the leader of the indentured world. Every action he has taken in office has been designed to reduce the freedom...

Managing Editor, Rod Boyce, of the Fairbanks Daily News Newsminer wrote a great piece most of the media need to write. I posted part of the Article: The Daily News-Miner has had its agreements and disagreements with now-former Gov. Sarah Palin at various points during her time serving the state of Alaska. We have tried to maintain respect for the office of governor and to be generally civil when discussing Mrs. Palin, her policies and the actions she took while serving as governor. The same has been true for the time since she left office. Etc...

Pushing the issue of “Human Rights” in China has long been driven by misinformation and bitter rhetoric of which the Liberal left has long been happy to furnish Americans. This problem had been so dramatic in the past that even many Republicans have made the mistake of jumping on the liberal bandwagon when it comes to this issue. The left’s manipulation on Conservatives begins by using these facts: 1. It is natural for conservatives to have a distaste for “Communism” and “Socialism.” 2. The Chinese government is a Communist one. 3. Many Americans have long hated China because of that...

Thoughts from Hong Kong Many have asked to see my remarks as presented in Hong Kong. Here is an excerpt: So far, I’ve given you the view from Main Street, USA. But now I’d like to share with you how a Common Sense Conservative sees the world at large. Later this year, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – an event that changed not just Europe but the entire world. In a matter of months, millions of people in formerly captive nations were freed to pursue their individual and national ambitions. The competition...

For a speech that some on the left stupidly maintained was an elaborate “prank,” it sure does seem to have been treated pretty seriously by those who were there (seriously enough, in fact, to inspire two Palin-haters to walk out in a huff). Alas, the event was closed to the press so this tiny clip of her burnishing her “Main Street” credentials ahead of 2012 is the best I can do, but the Journal got hold of the entire vid somehow and published some of the choicer excerpts. She touches on “death panels,” of course, but for my money this...

Here is video of Gov. Sarah Palin speaking in Hong Kong in her first speech since resigning as Governor of Alaska. This is a brief cell phone video clip of Palin's speech, and reaction from a man who attended the event. The speech was closed to the public and to the press. Palin brought a positive message about America's ability to heal itself, particularly if we follow the prescription set forth by President Ronald Reagan. . . . (VIDEO)

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, delivered her first major international speech outside North America Wednesday in Hong Kong at an investor conference. The speech was closed to the media, but The Wall Street Journal reviewed a recording of the event. Here are some excerpts on various topics, from death panels to Chinese human rights.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired a shot at the Federal Reserve in her coming-out speech in Hong Kong today, blaming the central bank for the current crisis and disagreeing with the idea that the Fed should have a greater role in preventing the next crisis. It was an echo of fellow Republican and Texas congressman Ron Paul, who has led the charge in Congress to perform an audit of the Federal Reserve with an eye to eventually eliminating it. “How can we discuss reform without addressing the government policies at the root of the problems? The root of the...

<p>HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Sarah Palin, former U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee, addressed a packed ballroom of mostly high-flying fund managers at a five-star hotel in Hong Kong Wednesday -- on issues ranging from the Alaskan fishing industry to the financial crisis to Sino-U.S. relations.</p>

HONG KONG -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first public-speaking engagement outside North America, blamed the world financial crisis on government excesses and called for a new round of deregulation and tax cuts for U.S. businesses. "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place," the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate said Wednesday at a conference sponsored by investment firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets. "We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom," she added. On the foreign-policy front, she told the room full of bankers and executives...

Governor Sarah Palin said the US government was wasting taxpayer’s money and could aggravate poverty, said delegates at her first speech outside North America on Wednesday. Sarah Palin, gave hundreds of financial big-hitters at the CLSA Investors' Forum in Hong Kong a wide-ranging speech that covered Alaska, international terrorism, US economic policy and trade with China.

Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers. A number of people who heard the speech in a packed a hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media, said Mrs. Palin spoke from notes for 90 minutes and that she was articulate, well-prepared and even compelling. “The speech was wide-ranging, very balanced, and she beat all expectations,” said Doug A. Coulter, head of private equity in the Asia-Pacific region for LGT Capital Partners. “She didn’t sound at all like a far-right-wing conservative. She seemed to be positioning...

The short story His TwitterI am going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt because twitter is a hard format to get your point across. But most of his twitter was mundane. In reading his comments, it seems there was a commonsense approach in Palin's speech. It seems from the twitter, that most of the speech was not earth shattering. But if she did say we needed to be cooperative with China when it came to the economic scuffle on the tires, it would be interesting to see what the full comments were. On the topic of...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Sarah Palin begins to build her network of advisors Politico's Ben Smith reports: Randy Scheunemann, has emerged as an advisor to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as she attempts to build a serious public profile and begins to build a network of aides and advisors typical of a national politician. Scheunemann confirmed this evening that he's with Palin in Hong Kong, where she is delivering a paid speech at a conference hosted by the brokerage house CLSA, which has in the past heard keynotes from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Rich Lowry recounts how the McCain...

Palin’s scheduled appearance has generated an abundance of buzz within Hong Kong’s large community of expatriates and jaded investment bankers. While many were baffled by the choice of Palin, CSLA says, “Our keynote speakers are notable luminaries who often address topics that go beyond traditional finance such as geopolitics.”

HONG KONG, China (CNN) — Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be in Hong Kong Wednesday to address about 1,000 investors from around the globe in what is billed as her first speech outside North America. Palin, who recently stepped down as Alaska's governor, will make the keynote speech on Wednesday to the 16th CLSA Investors' Forum. She will cover governance, economics and current events in the United States and Asia, said Simone Wheeler, head of communications for CLSA. "What we look to do is invite our keynote speakers who we feel are opinion makers, who are newsworthy...

Hong Kong — Governor Sarah Palin is expected to speak about US foreign policy and China in her first keynote speech outside North America, Hong Kong organizers said on Monday. The Governor is due to address hundreds of financial big-hitters at the CLSA Investors' Forum on Wednesday. "We have asked her to address US foreign policy, to discuss her views on governance, healthcare, and of course, China," Jonathan Slone, chief executive officer of the Asia-focused brokerage.

The Hill has reported that the media will not be permitted to attend Governor Palin’s keynote speaking engagement on Wednesday the 23rd of September. This is great news considering the media has become an embarrassment and in my opinion the most dangerous entity in the world, al Qaeda #2. It is very simple, they have sided with radical Islam verse America, put Obama into power and continue to cover for him, at our detriment, despite the disaster he is and is creating.

Yes, I know, I am a tad late, but, as is policy, we don’t talk about Sarah Palin’s schedule unless Sarah or her spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, has verified that Sarah is indeed going somewhere. There are just too many flaky promoters using Sarah’s name to sell tickets, without a verification from Sarah, who then try to blame her when she doesn’t show at an event she had never committed to in the first place. So we are not going to help them with that scam. As we reported earlier, Sarah has almost 1100 invitations to speak at events, both paid...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be delivering a keynote speech in Hong Kong, China, later this month, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton told FOX News. BY SERAFIN GOMEZ Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be delivering a keynote speech in Hong Kong, China, later this month, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton told FOX News. Palin will be speaking to a forum organized by CLSA, a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm, and will address the company's clients and delegates at the 16th Investors' Forum, held Sept. 21-25.

Tributes are left for those killed in the hotel attacks Indonesian officials say there are "strong indications" a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday's deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta. Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks. Nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. At least four of Friday's victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified. See map of area Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to...

More than 150,000 people gathered in Hong Kong last night to sing and chant in memory of the students killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre 20 years ago. The gathering was larger than it was on the first anniversary of the bloodshed in 1990. An area the size of six football pitches was marked out for the event, but proved to be insufficient, leaving hundreds of people queuing at the entrances of Victoria Park. Protesters said they had turned out in force to remind the government on mainland China they had not forgotten the moment when the People's Liberation Army...

When the American minesweepers USS Patriot and USS Guardian docked in Hong Kong on Monday, Wan Chai's bars and clubs heaved with off-duty sailors who hadn't been allowed booze for weeks. But many American servicemen find alternative ways to spend their shore leave here. Although scores of their colleagues spill into the tawdry traps of Lockhart Road, petty officer first class Jason Davis and some of his shipmates from the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee prefer home cooking with mainly compatriot host families in Hong Kong. "Carousing and staying up all night ... that's not me any more. It's too crazy...

Note: The following text is a quote: Port St. Lucie man sentenced to 60 months on Arms Export Control Act conspiracy WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A 55-year-old Port St. Lucie man was sentenced Friday to sixty months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release following a joint U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement (OEE) investigation. Joseph Piquet was convicted on March 5, 2009, on seven counts of conspiracy to evade the Arms Export Control Act by a federal jury in Fort Pierce. Court documents show he...

Two years ago, bankers and policymakers were arguing heatedly over whether New York or London was the world’s premier financial centre. Amid the post-crisis rubble that covers both cities, those arguments now look terribly passé. Financial services will still bring good jobs, revenues and vitality to cities that can attract them. Moreover, history shows that great financial centres confer significant global influence on the countries where they are located. Competition among these business hubs will thus remain intense. Once the global recovery begins, however, New York and London might be vying less with one another than with a new competitor...

The Constitution and Mainland Affairs Bureau (CMAB, 政制�內地事務局) of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council held a meeting on April 18 in which pan-democratic legislators demanded that Stephen Lam (林瑞麟), Hong Kong’s secretary for constitutional affairs, explain Beijing’s plan to establish a “second power base” in the territory. Lam has long been known for his loyalty to Beijing. The second power base became a hot topic because of a report in the Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newspaper Wen Wei Po, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The article stated that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government had reached a 10-point agreement...

Asian Stock Markets Rally on Optimism Over China By BETTINA WASSENER Published: May 4, 2009 HONG KONG — Asian stock markets on Monday rallied to some of their highest levels since mid-October as investors focused on the latest signs of economic stabilization in China and shrugged off concerns about a global swine flu pandemic and the fallout of Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing last week. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 3.9 percent to its highest since mid-October, and the Shanghai composite index in mainland China rose 2.3 percent. The Taiex index in Taiwan jumped more than 6 percent, buoyed...

Hundreds of tourists and employees were under quarantine in a downtown Hong Kong hotel Saturday after a Mexican guest tested positive for swine flu. With the outbreak on its doorstep, China suspended direct flights from the Latin American country. Hours after the first confirmed case in Asia was reported, the continent got its second: Tests showed a South Korean woman also had the disease. She has been under quarantine since returning earlier this week from Mexico, the epicenter of the disease.

A scathing editorial written by a Chinese columnist that referred to the Philippines as a "nation of servants", last month sent thousands of protesting Filipinos onto the streets of Hong Kong and threatened to spiral into a full blown diplomatic spat between Manila and the former British colony and current autonomous region governed by China. The inflammatory column was published in late March by HK Magazine and referred to the Philippines' overlapping territorial claims with China to the nearby Spratly Islands. Written by former British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent Chip Tsao and entitled "The War At Home", the writer advised...

_Asia has two confirmed cases of swine flu in Hong Kong and South Korea. Hong Kong's leader confirmed the case of a Mexican citizen who developed a fever after arriving in Hong Kong via Shanghai on Thursday. South Korea confirmed the disease in a 51-year-old woman who recently returned from a trip to Mexico. The country has one other suspected case. Other Asian countries also have suspected cases.

Hong Kong said it has assigned a team of scientists to develop a test that will hopefully cut the time it takes to diagnose the new swine flu strain from a few days to a few hours. Researchers in Hong Kong played a big role in discovering and determining how to treat SARS — a separate deadly virus that spread rapidly in 2003, killing more than 900 people. The island was the second hardest hit after mainland China. Thomas Tsang, controller for Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection, said Monday the government and the territory's universities are jointly developing the...

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Nina Wang, who died of cancer aged 69, was told by feng shui master Tony Chan to sign the 2006 will which he said would be burned later to give her a longer life... Asia's richest woman signed a will giving away her entire $13 billion fortune believing that the document was only for use in a feng shui ceremony, a court heard Tuesday. Nina Wang, who died of cancer aged 69, was told by feng shui master Tony Chan to sign the 2006 will which he said would be burned later to give her a longer life, Hong Kong's...

HONG KONG -- This city's three billionaire Kwok brothers have just the answer for the rising waters threatening the global economy: the world's first life-size replica of Noah's ark, built to biblical specifications off the coast of this recession-struck Chinese financial center. The message in its 450-foot-long hull, its rooftop luxury hotel and 67 pairs of fiberglass animals: "The financial tsunami will be over," says Spencer Lu, the Kwoks' project director at Noah's Ark, which is opening soon. The land-bound ark wasn't built in response to the current global turmoil; it has been in the planning for 17 years. But...

Hong Kong has the freest economy in the whole world, according to both the Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, and the Economic Freedom of the World report published by the Fraser Institute and the Cato Institute. There are good reasons for this ranking. The highest tax rate on personal income in the country is only 16 percent, and there are no taxes on interest, dividends, or capital gains. Hong Kong has complete free trade. There is very little special-interest (mercantilistic) interference in most markets. Hong Kong is one of the least...

<p>WASHINGTON - At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute at least $1 million each to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up during the last three decades.</p>

WASHINGTON - Republican US Senator John McCain leaves Washington on Friday on a week-long trip to Asia that will take him to Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and Tokyo, his office said on Monday. . . . . . Details of the trip were not immediately available, but the Arizona senator, planned to hold several public events. On his online Twitter feed, Mr McCain revealed Monday that he had met with China's ambassador to the United States in preparation for the trip.

SNIPPET: "Police spokesman Lawrence Li said experts were trying to confirm that the explosive used by the boys, ages 13 and 14, is triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP. Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper quoted chief inspector Chan Wai-man as saying the explosive is believed to be TATP and that the boys learned how to make it on the Internet."

(edit)Hong Kong-based British photographer Richard Jones encountered the 43-year-old wife of Robert Mugabe as she walked down a street near her luxury hotel in the heart of the city to go shopping.She punched him in the face when he tried to take pictures of her on January 15, leaving Mr Jones with bruises and cuts where her diamond-encrusted ring had smashed into his face. Mr Jones told AFP: "I think it's a disgrace for the Hong Kong government to allow a person to walk on a street in Hong Kong, punch a member of the media, and walk free from...

HONG KONG - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appears to have picked Hong Kong for his final bolt hole as power slips inexorably out of his hands. He couldn't have chosen a more secure place. It is not just that his US$5 million three-storey villa stands on one of the fabled "Nine Dragons" that in historic times provided the British colonial army a mountainous protective barrier against Chinese imperial forces, and is approachable only by a narrow road from Tai Po, a small town in the New Territories. It is the protection from intrusion that is all but guaranteed by the...

Hong Kong evolution curriculum row Intelligent design 'debate' sparks controversy. David Cyranoski A debate over the teaching of intelligent design in schools is raging in the unlikely battleground of Hong Kong. A fiery topic in the United States, intelligent design which holds that a designer has shaped life on Earth has gone almost unnoticed in Asia. The controversy is affecting all levels of education. In the latest episode, a dean of science at one of Hong Kong's premier universities backed out of a radio show earlier this month after finding he was being set up to debate with an advocate...

Hong Kong chef jailed for meat-cleaver attack on grumbling diner Posted : Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:59:51 GMT Hong Kong - A Hong Kong chef on Thursday began a 20-month jail sentence for attacking a woman diner with a meat cleaver after she complained about his food. Cheng Chi-wai, 50, hit the 47-year-old woman on the head with the cleaver after she grumbled about the meal she was served in the seafood restaurant in the city's Wan Chai district. He ran into the kitchen and emerged with two meat cleavers after she remarked on the poor quality of his cooking...