China has won a contract to build a high-speed railway between Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta and Bandung (West Java), beating Japan along the way. Earlier this month, the Indonesian government unexpectedly decided to decline proposals from Japan and China for the construction of a multi-billion high-speed railway between both cities as these proposals included financial assistance or a guarantee from the Indonesian government. Moreover, Indonesia considered a super-fast train unnecessary on the relatively short route (150 km).

Read more ›

After the currency of Japan (yen) had weakened to its lowest level in seven years against the US dollar on Tuesday (11/11), the currency rebounded today (12/11) as speculation spread that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not considering to dissolve parliament and to postpone a planned sales-tax increase. Japan’s currency had gained 0.4 percent to 115.31 per US dollar at 9:02 am London time according to Bloomberg data (yesterday it had touched a seven-year low at 116.10 per US dollar).

Read more ›