Author: Business News Asia

Fans who were hoping that Wii U’s definitive Legend of Zelda game will be released this year ended up frustrated when Nintendo said the game will not be released in 2015. Game producer Eiji Aonuma said in a statement he posted on Facebook that releasing Legend of Zelda this year was no longer a priority as the team is still working hard to bring to life the biggest Zelda game ever. Aonuma stressed that the team is going to take more time to make sure the game lives up to its full potential and will become the best game it…

A Somali diplomat and at least 17 others were killed when gunmen raided the Makka Al Mukarama hotel in Somalia’s capital late Friday afternoon, the Somali government said. Gunmen, believed to be members of the Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab, detonated bombs and opened fire at people inside the hotel in Mogadishu, killing Yusuf Mohamed Ismail Bari-bari, Somalia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Somali government said the raid began at around 5pm Friday with the gunmen setting off a car bomb at the hotel’s entrance. The explosion rattled security personnel, giving the gunmen easy access to…

American multinational computer technology corporation Oracle Corp is expanding its sales team in the Asia Pacific region with plans to hire 1,000 new sales professionals in Asia. Oracle president for EMEA & APAC, Loic Le Guisquet, said the recruitment is aimed at creating a world-class sales team in the region that will help Oracle’s customers embrace cloud technology. The recruitment efforts will be focused in the ASEAN countries as well as in Greater China, Australia, Korea and India. Oracle said hiring 1,000 new sales professionals across the region is part of its efforts to drive growth and support demand for…

A hospital in Duesseldorf, Germany denied previous media reports that Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was suffering from depression. The University Hospital of Duesseldorf issued a statement saying Lubitz visited the hospital as a patient in February 2015, with his last visit recorded on March 10, 2015. The hospital admitted Lubitz, who was identified by French prosecutor as the co-pilot in the crashed Germanwings 4U9525 flight, was receiving diagnosis evaluation. The hospital, however, refused to provide more details. “Reports that Andreas Lubitz was treated in our hospital for depression are incorrect,” the hospital statement read. It also handed medical records over…

California Governor Jerry Brown signed on Friday and emergency legislation that speeds up the released of over US$1 billion in funding that will be used to mitigate the effects of a record-breaking drought. “This funding is just one piece of a much larger effort to help those most impacted by the drought and prepare the state for an uncertain future,” said Brown in a statement. “Rain is not in the forecast and every Californian must be doing their utmost to conserve water.” Brown said the state is already in its fourth year of a record-breaking doubt and residents have been…

Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao paid a total of Php163.8 million (US$3.65 million) in regular income taxes for the taxable year 2013, making him the top individual taxpayers in the Philippines for 2013. The list, released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), has overtaken the country’s tycoons and businessmen in terms of tax payments in 2013, the BIR said citing data as of November 24.2014. Second in the list was Juanito P. Alcantara, who paid Php99.6 million in taxes for the reported year. Aside from Pacquiao and businessmen in the Philippines, the country’s showbiz personalities also made it to…

Dow Chemical Co, an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, has agreed to sell a significant part of its chlorine business to Olin Corp. Olin, a manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine and sodium hydroxide based in Clayton Missouri, will pay US$2 billion of cash and cash equivalents to Dow; an estimated US$2.2 billion in Olin common stock and about US$800 million of pension assumptions and other liabilities. In return, Dow, based in Midland, Mich., will transfer its chlor-alkali and vinyl plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast, its global chlorinated organics business and the global epoxy business. Dow will become…

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunders will not be seeing game time for the entire National Basketball Associatio (NBA) season, Thunders general manager Sam Presti said. Presti told reporters Durant will be undergoing bone graft surgery to repair a fractured bone next week. It will take about four to six months, depending on his full-recovery, before Durant will be allowed to play again, Presti said. Durant last played on February 19 and participated in just 27 games this season. The Thunders, however, played well even without Durant and the team is expected to make it to the play-offs. Durant…

Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito can now walk free after Italy’s supreme court ruled that the two were innocent in the murder of her British roommate. Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions once and for all on Friday, ending the 7 and half years of legal battle waged by Knox. Knox, 27, waged the legal battle to clear her name in the gruesome 2007 murder and sexual assault of British student Meredith Kercher. Kercher, 21, was found dead Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment that she shared with Knox and two Italian lawyers-in-training. She was…

A gruesome discovery ended four days of search for a missing 5-year-old Virginia boy, after his body was found inside a septic tank near his home Thursday. Authorities said the body of Noah Thomas was found in a septic tank, although police did not say whether the boy had fallen into the tank or if someone killed him. Noah was reported missing since Sunday by his mother. He was last seen at the family’s home in Dublin. Authorities immediately launched a search operation, which involved several hundred law enforcement officers and volunteers. Pulaski Country Sheriff Jim Davis said the police…

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Four children and a 63-year-old man died when the motorized outrigger boat they were boarding sank in the waters off NHA Bangkal, this city, Friday afternoon. The full names of the fatalities have not been disclosed but initial reports said among those who perished in the sinking of the boat were Bambie Orop, Joan Chavez and 63-year-old Antonio Chavez. Four others survived the incident, authorities said. According to the survivors, they were onboard the motorized banca on their home from Punta Dumalag after a leisurely swim. When they were merely 20-meters away from their shore, a…

[PHILIPPINES] Two kids, aged 5 and 12, were killed when a car rammed into the motorcycle they were riding in in Gonzaga, Cagayan, Philippines. The victims were identified as Justin Clark Agno, 12, and Kae Kae Agno, 5, both residents of Barangay Batangan, Gonzaga town. Five of their kin were also rushed to the hospital due to injuries in the different parts of their bodies. Traffic investigators said the victims were onboard a motorcycle with sidecar when the vehicle was rammed from behind by a Toyota Vios car driven by Gilbert Campano. Campano told the police that while he was…

What would you do if you have an estimated USD800 million worth of fortune? Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said he would rather give them all to charities. Cook, interviewed by Fortune Magazine, said he is planning to donate his fortune, or about USD800 million to charities, once his 10-year-old nephew finishes college. Cook, born Timothy Donald Cook, has no children to pass on his wealth, so he said he will donate his money – USD180 million in cash and about USD660 million in stocks, to charities. Sources said Cook did not have the time to start his own…

Growth of the US economy slowed in the last quarter of 2014 to 2.2 percent annual rate, unrevised from the forecast issued in February, the Commerce Department said. The final fourth-quarter GDP growth was lower than what economists had expected. A Reuters poll of economists showed that most of those surveyed expected the fourth-quarter economic growth to be revised up to a 2.4 percent rate. While earnings of multinational corporations throttled back, the robust US consumer spending helped limit the slowdown in the pace of economic activity in the last three months of 2014. Multinational corporations have warned that the…

A yearlong investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has led to the fall of Fresno Police Department Deputy Chief Keith Foster. Foster was arrested Thursday on federal drug charges, catching the entire Fresno Police Department, the citizens of Fresno, and the law enforcement profession in a surprise. But FBI found strong evidence to charge Foster of conspiring to distribute heroin, oxycodone and marijuana based on the the investigation that lasted about 12 months. FBI investigators trailed Foster, 51, listened to his phone calls and established that the allegation of…

Had Germanwings learned that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was classified by doctors as unfit for work, the deliberate move to crash the Airbus A320 plane, killing 150 aboard, could have been prevented. But the problem was that Germanwings, the owner of the plane that crashed into the French Alps and which was co-piloted by Lubitz did not know he was signed off as unfit to work. Prosecutors learned that Lubitz suffered from an illness that had his doctor signed him off as not fit to work. The illness that Lubitz was suffering was not immediately disclosed. “Documents with medical contents were…

After 13 years of absence, our favorite FBI duo is returning for a six episode series of “X-Files”. According to MSN Entertainment, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will relive their partnership as special agent Dana Scully and special agent Fox Mulder. Fans can expect the series production to start this summer. Chris Carter, the series creator, has dubbed the absence of the show as a long 13 year commercial break, but also cited his excitement as the current time of production couldn’t be better. “The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to…

Is Ed Sheeran dating Taylor Swift? Very likely as the British singer has confirmed that he is now single and back on the market after he and girlfriend Athina Andrelos have decide to call it quits after one year. Rumors about him and good friend Taylor Swift dating have also been doing their rounds online, though both of them flatly deny them and explain that they are simply friends. The 24-year old British singer confirmed the news and told a radio station in Australia that he is indeed newly single, following the rumors and speculations that he and Athina broke…

Life insurers in Taiwan have been considered as among the most exposed to interest rate risk in the world, joining the ranks of life insurers in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said. The classification was based on Moody’s review of 21 large life insurance markets and ranked them according to vulnerability to low interest rate risk. Life insurance firms in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico and the UK are the least exposed, Moody’s said. The ratings agency stressed that the sustained low interest rate environment will result to the continuous fall of insurers’ investment returns, thus…

Prosecutors in Colorado have decided to junk the murder charge against a 34-year-old Colorado woman who was accused of cutting a baby from an expectant mother’s womb. Boulder Country District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Catherine Olquin has confirmed that the prosecutors will not charge Dynel Lane, 34, with murder, although she did not provide the reason why or what charges the suspect will now face. District Attorney Stan Garnett is expected to release more information today about the decision not to charge the suspect with murder. The coroner’s office is also set to release the findings of an autopsy performed on…