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document.writeln('Asian Business Strategy and Street Intelligence - lean and nosy like a chao phraya river rat.'); document.writeln('South East Asian government and business hails arrest of Hamadi:'); document.writeln('The arrest of Riduan bin Isomuddin alias Hamadi in Thailand can only be good news for business in South East Asia. Hamadi was responsible for severe damage to the economies of much of South East Asia, by instilling fear in foreign and local investors, increasing country risk and insecurity, driving away tourism dollars, and slowing down the participation of many South East Asian countries in the global economy. '); document.writeln('Thailand visa fees to increase substantially:'); document.writeln('Thailand visa fees for tourism, business and residency purposes will rise by around 100 to 400 percent in late August 2003. While such fees may not represent a significant increase in business travel or tourism costs overall, it makes Thai visa fees in many cases (depending on length of stay) similar or significantly higher than those for neighbouring countries Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, canceling out a previous competitive advantage for Thailand. '); document.writeln('Asia Pacific to provide highest economic growth of any global region through 2007:'); document.writeln('The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts 5.9 percent annual economic growth for the Asia Pacific ex Japan through 2007, making the region the fastest-growing globally. However this growth is not evenly spread, with China and India leading the charge, while other Asian economies struggle or show limited growth. '); document.writeln('Blast rocks J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta Indonesia:'); document.writeln('Jakarta\'s J.W. Marriott hotel was the scene of an explosion today, just as Indonesia and the Indonesian economy was recovering from the Bali incident and leaders receiving praise for their fight against terrorism. '); document.writeln('Strange Sunday in Makati:'); document.writeln('There’s an eerie parallel with today\'s military rebellion in the Philippines with the Cory years - a female leader swept into office by People Power swears to clean up corruption, but somehow never quite delivers and things just get more and more crooked. Bottom line - nobody\'s delivering pizza in Makati, Manila\'s financial district, tonight...\r\n '); document.writeln('Competitiveness Rankings sees South East Asia on the rise:'); document.writeln('Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are the rising stars of the IMD\'s World Competitiveness Scorecard for 2003 published in their yearbook last week. At the same time traditional lean and mean Scandinavian economies which have dominated the rankings since their inception, as well as the mature East Asian economies, seem to be losing their competitive advantage. ');