Asia Emerges From Global Crisis With Growth Unbroken

If there were any businesses left out there that thought they could disregard what is going on in Asia, the global financial crisis has seen to that.

Asian economies were not intact by the credit crunch and the slump in demand from the US and Europe – still the most important markets for many Asian-based companies and multinationals. But the region’s ability to overcome those difficulties, while western economies are still languishing, has cemented the notion that the world’s economic centre of gravity is changing from west to east.

“Some companies have been pessimistically affected by the drop in western demand, but in the long term, an increase in Asian demand will become the dominant factor,” Mr Elston said.

Many countries operating in China, and in Asia normally, continue to do good business. Consumer companies such as Nestlé, Danone and Unilever have all reported brisk sales in budding markets, of which Asia forms the largest chunk. But businesses cannot take such profits for granted, chiefly as local competitors try to steal market share. If most of Asia really is persuaded that its economic performance is becoming more insulated from what goes on in the west, then the business environment for foreign companies is bound to get more difficult.

Olam Stumps Up Money For NZFSU

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay says it will use short-term financial support from Olam International to complete the development of its existing farms as part of the takeover deal.

The Singaporean food and possessions group, which is looking to buy at least half of Farming Systems at 70 cents a share, dedicated to securing a short-term credit facility for the farm manager, according to a letter to chairman John Parker released to the stock exchange.

Olam said it will expand a long-term funding strategy, though its initial view is that the cash should be raised in a pro-rata rights issue, as contrasting to taking on more debt.

"NZS requires about US$60 million to complete development of its existing farms, and Olam's view was that expansion should be advanced so as not to prejudice future productivity and profitability," Farming Systems said.

Olam upped its price to 70 cents a share from 55 cents after Uruguay's Union Agriculture Group put in a rival bid, while Farming Systems sought a capital inoculation from a third party.

UAG subsequently dropped out of the race, and Farming Systems has stopped its cooperation with the other group. The Singaporean company has 40.26%.

Farming Systems' board at first knocked back Olam's proposal, but after the augmented offer and commitment short-term funding and the company's South American strategy, gave an support for shareholders to sell part of their investment.

As a condition of the endorsement, Olam told Farming Systems' lender it didn't purpose to the sale of the Don Pepe farm property, a requirement to secure its release from bank security.

The shares were unaffected at 69 cents on the NZX today.

Humpback Dinosaur Discovered In Spain

Spanish scientists said that they have discovered the world's first humpback dinosaur.

A well-preserved skeleton of the six-metre-long carnivorous dinosaur, which has been named Concavenator corcovatus, was discovered close to Cuenca in central Spain.

The skeleton represents a new species within the medium-sized Carcharodontosaurid family, which was formerly thought to have been confined to southern continents.

The Concavenator, which lived about 130 million years ago, had a pointed, hump-like structure on its back.

Other dinosaur species had prominent vertebrae, but the Concavenator is the first known dinosaur with a hump, research team leader Francisco Ortega told DPA. The hump was about 40 cm high. Its function is not known.

The Concavenator also had what could have been quill knobs on its forearms, signifying it may have had non-scale appendages similar to the feathers of modern birds.

'This discovery links prehistoric carnivorous dinosaur species with birds,' Ortega said. 'It reinforces the hypothesis that many of the (body) structures of birds previously existed in dinosaurs,' he said.

World’s Shortest Man Crowned In Colombia

The world once more has a shortest man, newly crowned by the Guiness World Records and standing at two feet, 3.46 inches tall. Twenty-four-year-old Edward Hernandez from Bogota Columbia is four centimetres shorter than his ancestor, who died filming a television show earlier this year in Rome.

“He hasn’t grown while he was two years old,” said his mother, Noemi Hernandez, of the oldest of her five living children, in a meeting with the Daily Telegraph.

Mr. Hernandez, who weighs just 22 pounds, will be featured in the new Guiness Book of World Records, published Sept. 15. And just in time, too, since in the rough-and-tumble world of short-person politics, Mr. Hernandez will most probable have to relinquish his title in a month, when Khagendra Thapa Magar, the world’s shortest teenager, turns 18 in October. (The Nepalese teen is two inches shorter than Mr. Hernandez.)

“I am very happy to be renowned as the shortest man in the world,” Mr. Hernandez said in a statement. “Every person is special and unique. The more abnormal you are the more you should fight and work harder.”

Mr. Hernandez’s parents told the Telegraph that doctors could not at all explain why he was so small.

Mr. Hernandez takes the crown from He Pingping, the Chinese man who died March 13, 2010 as he was filming a box series in Rome. The former world’s shortest man stood at two-feet, five inches. His family reacted with shock when the 21-year-old from the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia died unexpectedly from heart complications.

At the time, Mr. He’s sister, He Lihua, said her brother hadn’t exposed signs of ill health. “We just did not expect this bad news,” she said from her home in the business city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia where Mr. He also lived. “Pingping went to Italy… and he called us every day saying he wasn’t eating well and that he missed us,” she said.

Mr. He had a form of primeval dwarfism. His father, He Yun, has said that when his son was born he was small enough to fit into his parent’s hands. Mr. He was formally recognized as the world’s smallest man by the Guinness World Records in 2008.

SpiceJet To Start International Operations Soon

Leading low cost carrier SpiceJet announced that it will fly to international destinations from October 7, with the first flight from New Delhi to Kathmandu.

“Driven by the confidence vested in us by our stakeholders and their encouragement over the past five years, we are now thrilled to begin this new chapter in the achievement story of SpiceJet,” the company’s Director and interim CEO, Kishore Gupta, said in a statement.

After Kathmandu, the airline, owned by media baron Kalanithi Maran, will also begin daily flights on the Chennai-Colombo route from October 9. However, the flights to Kathmandu will be operated 6 days a week.

“We are pleased to welcome Colombo and Kathmandu as a part of our new global network and look forward to extending our hospitality to our passengers in this new phase of growth,” SpiceJet’s Chief Commercial Officer, Samyukth Sridharan, said.

Bookings for both Kathmandu and Colombo are now open, said the statement.

SpiceJet, which completes five years of domestic operations this month — a mandatory requirement to commence international flights — has previously got the government’s nod to fly on two more routes, Male and Dhaka.

The low-cost carrier, which will initiate seven more aircraft into its fleet this year, will use the new aircraft on international routes.

The airline at present has 21 aircraft in its fleet and has also placed orders with Boeing for 30 new aircraft in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Deliveries of these planes are scheduled to begin in 2014.

Last week, an Empowered Committee of the Civil Aviation Ministry had also given in-principle endorsement for the import of these aircraft.