The cruise of a lifetime? See 56 Unesco sites and visit 30 countries in 117 days

Regent Seven Seas Cruises might have just the voyage for you. Departing from Miami, Florida, in the United States, on January 5, 2021, the Seven Seas Mariner will set sail for Barcelona, Spain, via the Panama Canal, Easter Island, the South Pacific, Australasia, Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

Some 56 World Heritage sites will be visited on the 117-night cruise, which will drop anchor at 61 ports in 30 countries. Fares start from US$60,499 per person in a Deluxe Verandah Suite. For the full itinerary and bookings, visit:

 www.rssc.com/cruises.

BY ADAM NEBBS

17 AUG 2018

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2160136/cruise-lifetime-see-56-unesco-sites-and-visit-30

Why young Chinese women won’t be rushed into marriage?

Flicking through the files he keeps on dozens of Chinese singles Zhu Fang, one of Beijing’s leading matchmakers, points to an alarming trend he has noticed in recent years: he now has far more single women on his books than men. Speaking to the South China Morning Post ahead of Friday’s festival of Qixi, also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, Zhu reflected on the changing nature of love and romance in the four decades he has been operating.

“Finding partners is getting more difficult for these young women even though it is easier to get to meet people these days,” Zhu said.

Zhuang Pinghui

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2160133/you-cant-hurry-love-why-young-chinese-women-wont-be-rushed

How WeChat became China’s everyday mobile app

WeChat, or Weixin as it’s known in China, began life in a southern corner of the country at the Tencent Guangzhou Research and Project centre in October 2010. Since then, it has grown into the most popular mobile app in the country with over 1 billion monthly active users who chat, play games, shop, read news, pay for meals and post their thoughts and pictures. Today, you can even book a doctor’s appointment or arrange a time slot to file for a divorce at the civil affairs authority. 

Mini programs refer to applications typically smaller than 10 megabytes that can run instantly on the main app’s interface. They offer speed of access to users because a program does not have to be downloaded from an app store, they can run from within the app. This innovation allows platforms to host multiple services, turning them into super-apps, delivering greater convenience to consumers in the world’s largest smartphone market.

Tencent has frequently added innovations to WeChat, designed to drive growth and loyalty, the latest being mini programs

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 16 August, 2018, 7:04am

UPDATED : Thursday, 16 August, 2018, 3:39pm

Iris DengCelia Chenhttps://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2159831/how-wechat-became-chinas-everyday-mobile-app

Faraday Future is on track for mass output of FF91 electric cars

The FF91, designed with 1,050 horsepower and an acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.39 seconds, was supposed to carry a price tag of 2 million yuan. Faraday Future will achieve the capacity to produce 5 million vehicles per annum in five years, comprising both high-end models and lower-end variants, according to an August 14 announcement by Evergrande Health.

The company has set up a headquarters in Guangzhou with a US$2 billion investment, and plans to build five research, development and production centres across China.

Yujing Liu

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2160723/

HOW IS DIGITISATION SHAKING UP ‘NEW RETAIL’ IN ASIA?

Online shopping allows consumers to buy beyond national borders. As it is, Chinese consumers are already shopping widely across the globe, especially within Asia-Pacific. According to Alibaba, of the 1.48 billion transactions during Single’s Day 2017, much went to the 60,000 overseas participating brands out of a total of 140,000. What’s more, Mintel research reveals that a fifth of Chinese online consumers of imported food products have purchased online from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, consumers living outside of China are shopping from the e-commerce heavyweight—especially those residing in East and South Asia.

Matthew Crabbe

http://www.mintel.com/blog/retail-market-news/how-is-digitisation-shaking-up-new-retail-in-asia

ASIA’S BEAUTY POWERHOUSES: J-BEAUTY AND K-BEAUTY

In the last decade, K-beauty has successfully cracked the international beauty market which was previously led by an established few J-beauty companies and brands. K-beauty has achieved its position as a trendsetter, winning the hearts of Asian consumers all thanks to its fast-paced product innovation activity and agile transition to digitisation. Finally, there is a rising player in the Asian beauty market; China beauty, or C-beauty, has quickly grown in the skincare and makeup sectors in recent years. China beauty brands have absorbed the best practices of the world’s leading products and adapted them to suit the needs and tastes of local Chinese consumers.

Sharon Kwek

http://www.mintel.com/blog/beauty-market-news/asias-beauty-powerhouses-j-beauty-and-k-beauty

PLASTIC WASTE IN ASIA PACIFIC

Plastic packaging is low cost and helps companies keep prices down for shoppers, but its environmental impact will make it increasingly unviable. A survey by the Thai government found that the average Thai uses eight plastic bags a day, which equates to almost 200 billion a year. What’s more, Thailand is also the sixth largest contributor to marine waste globally, as ranked by the Ocean Conservancy. There is growing interest in sustainable alternatives to plastic as people become more conscious of their consumption. Mintel research finds that almost two in three Indian city dwellers take their own bags when they go grocery shopping. This change in people’s behaviour has seen companies across the world look for ways to reduce their plastic consumption by turning to alternative and sustainable materials.

Delon Wang, Trends Manager, Asia Pacific

http://www.mintel.com/blog/new-market-trends/thought-bubble-plastic-waste-in-asia-pacific

SOUTH KOREA KICKS OFF 52-HOUR MAXIMUM WORKWEEK...

South Korea is known to have some of the world’s longest working hours. Based on data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average South Korean worked 2,024 hours in 2017, which is around 300 hours more than people in neighbouring country Japan and 700 hours more than in Germany.
Joyce LAM.
http://www.mintel.com/blog/new-market-trends/whats-trending-south-korea-kicks-off-52-hour-maximum-workweek

Europe’s slowdown leaves China’s exporters with another big gap to fill amid trade war with US

David Brown- says as the German economic spring appears to be winding down, and with Europe expected to have a hard landing, China should be looking less to exports.
With a market of 740 million consumers, Europe is an important destination for Chinese exports. A downturn in European demand for China’s goods could be bad timing for Beijing in the midst of its deepening trade war with America. The prospect of slower world trade, weaker global economic activity and the shadow descending over international equity markets compound the problem. Beijing needs a bold reflation plan to help soften the external blow while boosting the domestic economy. No time like the present to get those policy changes into gear.
https://www.scmp.com/author/david-brown

Starbucks, Costa take on the challenge of growing the coffee business in China, the traditional land of tea

According to a 2017 report by market intelligence consultancy Mintel, China’s coffee shop market is set to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.7 per cent in the next five years, reaching 79.4 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion) by 2022, up from 60.2 billion yuan last year, with booming markets in first- and second-tier cities the main drivers for coffee shop chains.

Starbucks has been in China since 1999 and now has 3,400 stores in the country. Chief executive Kevin Johnson has repeatedly said that China would become the firm’s biggest market within a decade.

https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2160564/starbucks-costa-take-challenge-growing-coffee-business-china?

Inflation approaches 1 million percent. The minimum wage will rise 3,500%.Venezuela...

The nation’s currency — the bolivar — will be devalued, sales taxes increased and minimum wages hiked more than 3,500%, drastic adjustments that President Nicolas Maduro said he hoped would jump-start the economy.

Critics, though, predicted the worst, saying the measures are bound to fail because of rampant corruption in the country, low productivity and crippling U.S. sanctions. Business owners said they can’t possibly afford the 3,670% increase in minimum wages that Maduro requested, and trade groups immediately called for a nationwide strike Tuesday to protest the measures.

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-venezuela-economy-20180820-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

What Are the Top U.S. Imports?

By Sarah Hansen | Updated August 8, 2018 — 1:11 PM EDT

Computer and electronic products took the top spot in 2017 with $401 billion worth of goods imported. This category includes computer equipment, audio and visual equipment, and semiconductors and other components used to manufacture electronics. These types of goods are the top commodity imported by California, which is no surprise given the tech industry in Silicon Valley. Apple  

AAPL

Apple Inc

215.46

-0.97%

 

 iPhones, for instance, are manufactured in China, as are some Samsung phones and the Amazon Echo.

AMZN

Amazon.com Inc

1,876.71

-0.29%

  

Transportation equipment was the second largest commodity imported in the United States in 2017, clocking in at $385 billion. This category of goods includes car brands like Toyota.

TM

Toyota Motor

123.27

-0.01%

  BMW, and Hyundai, aerospace products and parts from companies like Airbus, and ships and boats manufactured in China.  

Next on the list were chemicals, including fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, industrial and commercial machinery, and oil and gas. 

Read more: What Are the Top U.S. Imports? 
Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/news/what-are-top-us-imports/#ixzz5On0x56Tt 

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an individual who, rather than working as an employee, founds and runs a small business, assuming all the risks and rewards of the venture. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services and business/or procedures.
https://www.investopedia.com/

Which outfit looks best? AI set to give shoppers smart styling tips

Peta Tomlinson

AI (artificial intelligence) is reshaping the fashion industry, and in a crossover to retail, it’s set to change the shopping experience soon.

Hongkongers were privy to what this will mean in the fitting room when Alibaba Group – the owner of South China Morning Post – and US fashion brand Guess launched a pilot FashionAI concept shop at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in July. The initiative taps technologies ranging from machine learning to computer vision to “learn” from consumers, designers and fashion aficionados within the e-commerce ecosystem, which is also set up to spot fashion trends.

https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/topics/premier-living/article/2160038/which-outfit-looks-best-ai-set-give-shoppers

Apple may launch glasses in 2020, car in 2023, says analyst

Augmented reality, combining the digital and physical worlds through smartglasses, is going to become Apple’s next major user interface, he predicts, like how the iPhone introduced multi-touch touch screens.

BY BUSINESS INSIDER

18 AUG 2018

https://www.scmp.com/author/business-insider

Can you avoid the crowds on the 4,004-passenger luxury ‘resort’ cruise ship Norwegian Bliss?

Is it possible to get away from a crowd of 4,004 passengers and 1,716 crew aboard a 994-foot (300 metres) cruise ship?

A cruise ship that boasts the longest (at 1,000 feet) electric go-kart racetrack at sea?

A veritable seagoing resort with an open-air laser tag course, themed as an abandoned space station.

An Aqua Park with two pools and two multi-storey water slides (one of which includes a free-fall followed by a loop overboard that will leave you – assuming your heart did not faint back there at the free-fall part – grinning uncontrollably for a good 90 minutes thereafter).

Ritz-Carlton’s luxury cruise liners are perfect for the ‘1 per centers’

No fewer than 33 places to eat, drink and dessert (yes, it is worth using as a verb here), including, perhaps most pleasantly unexpected for a high-seagoing vessel, a high-plains Texas smokehouse, called Q, where you can pass the sauces and listen to country music each night.

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

21 AUG 2018

Rio Tinto’s 3.14-ct Argyle Alpha vivid pink diamond dazzles in 2018 Tender

British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto has unveiled the largest Vivid Pink diamond in the history of its Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, launched in 1984.

The 3.14-ct polished emerald cut pink diamond, named Argyle Alpha, is the largest diamond of the 2018 Tender, which has been named “Magnificent Argyle”.

https://www.scmp.com/author/ada-jiang

Got US$1.3m to splurge? This ultra-rare Rolex 'Paul Newman' Daytona could be yours

It’s not every day that a “lemon dial” Rolex Paul Newman Daytona comes on the market.

This particular Daytona 6264 is being sold by Xupes and has an estimated value of £1 million (US$1.3 million).

Xupes says this is just the fifth known example of its kind to come to market.

BY BUSINESS INSIDER

10 AUG 2018

https://www.scmp.com/author/business-insider

Luxury Apartment Sales Plummet in New York City..

Sales of such properties costing $5 million or more fell 31% in the first half of the year, pushing sellers to cut asking prices

By 

Josh Barbanel

Aug. 20, 2018 9:00 a.m. ET

Sales of the most expensive New York apartments fell sharply in the first half of the year, but many sellers have adjusted by cutting asking prices to make deals, brokers said.

“This is simply a market that is adjusting itself to chronic overpricing relative to buyers’ perception of value,” said Kirk Henckels, a broker and vice chairman of Stribling & Associates, a New York-based brokerage.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/luxury-apartment-sales-plummet-in-new-york-city

Worst Floods in a Century Lash Southern India...

More than 350 people have died and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, according to the Associated Press, as weeks of torrential rain have caused massive flooding in the popular tourist state of Kerala.

https://www.wsj.com/video/worst-floods-in-a-century-lash-southern-india