Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The rise of China's super-rich; New Afghan law allows men to attack women; Five things on new Microsoft CEO's to-do list



1 The rise of China's super-rich (Bryan Borzykowski on BBC) The number of Chinese with more than 3.03bn Chinese yuan ($500m) in assets will grow by 6% this year to 535 people, according to a recent report by Wealth-X, a Singapore-based company that collects data on ultra high net-worth individuals. Other studies have shown that the country’s high net worth population — people with more than $1.6m — is also climbing. Between now and 2015, the country’s high net-worth group will swell from 800,000 people to about 1 million, estimates US-based global management consulting firm Bain & Company.

Where’s all this money coming from? Massive economic growth, said Mykolas Rambus, Wealth-X’s CEO. For most of the last decade, the country’s gross domestic product has grown by about 10%a year — by comparison, US GDP growth has only exceeded 3% twice since 2003 — and it’s been business owners who’ve been able to take the most advantage of that rapid expansion. Due to its rapid economic gains, China’s wealth boom has occurred over the last decade. As a result, most of the country’s richest citizens are young and experiencing wealth for the first time.

This new Chinese elite are also younger than their counterparts in Europe and North America. The average age of the high net-worth group is between 40-years-old and 50-years-old, compared with 50-years-old and 60-years-old in other countries, said Jennifer Zeng, a Beijing-based partner at Bain & Co. As fast as China is expanding, it will still be a while before its high net-worth population overtakes America’s. Currently, there are about 65,500 American ultra high net-worth individuals —people with more than $30 million in assets — compared to China’s 10,675.

All this newfound money is having a ripple effect around the world. For starters, home prices in hot urban areas, such as Vancouver, London and New York are soaring as Chinese buyers swoop in. One reason many wealthy Chinese are scooping up homes outside of China is asset diversification. It is also a way to get their money out of the country, said Rambus. What exactly this Chinese high net-worth growth story means for the world long-term isn’t clear, but there are two things for certain, said Rambus — people are getting richer and they’re spreading that money globally.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140203-the-rise-of-chinas-wealth-dragon

2 New Afghan law allows men to attack women (Emma Graham-Harrison in The Guardian) A new Afghan law will allow men to attack their wives, children and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country blighted by so-called "honour" killings, forced marriage and vicious domestic abuse.

The small but significant change to Afghanistan's criminal prosecution code bans relatives of an accused person from testifying against them. Most violence against women in Afghanistan is within the family, so the law – passed by parliament but awaiting the signature of the president, Hamid Karzai – will effectively silence victims as well as most potential witnesses to their suffering.

Under the new law, prosecutors could never come to court with cases like that of Sahar Gul, a child bride whose in-laws chained her in a basement and starved, burned and whipped her when she refused to work as a prostitute for them. Women like 31-year-old Sitara, whose nose and lips were sliced off by her husband at the end of last year, could never take the stand against their attackers.

"Honour" killings by fathers and brothers who disapprove of a woman's behaviour would be almost impossible to punish. Forced marriage and the sale or trading of daughters to end feuds or settle debt would also be largely beyond the control of the law in a country where the prosecution of abuse is already rare.

Countries that spent billions trying to improve justice and human rights are now focused largely on security, and are retreating from Afghan politics. Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher with Human Rights Watch, said: "Opponents of women's rights have been emboldened in the last year. They can see an opportunity right now to begin reversing women's rights – no need to wait for 2015. The lack of response from donors has energised them further. Everyone has known since May that this law could be passed but we didn't hear any donors speaking out about it publicly."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/afghanistan-law-victims-violence-women

3 Five things on new Microsoft CEO's to-do list (Ryan Nakashima in San Francisco Chronicle) As with any new CEO, Microsoft's Satya Nadella will have a packed agenda that includes filling top management roles and re-examining strategy. The tech giant on Tuesday named Nadella to replace Steve Ballmer. He is only the third chief executive in Microsoft's 38-year history. The longtime insider will be tasked with catching rivals in the mobile devices arena and offering more software and services over the Internet.

Here are some of the most pressing items on Nadella's to-do list as he reshapes Microsoft into a "mobile-first, cloud-first" company: (a) Integrate Nokia's mobile device business. Microsoft's $7.3 billion acquisition will add roughly 30,000 employees to Microsoft's existing 100,000 workers — barring some likely layoffs. Nokia, the largest maker of phones that run Microsoft's Windows Phone software, was also believed to be working on a phone that uses Google's Android operating system prior to the acquisition.

(b) Fix Windows and unite the company's various operating systems. (c) Set a hardware strategy. Microsoft's Surface tablets have been losing money despite increased sales. (d) Pick a management team. (e) Work with the board, including Bill Gates. Nadella asked Microsoft's founder to increase his involvement in the company's products and technology, meaning Gates will relinquish the chairmanship to John Thompson. How Nadella balances his own vision with Gates' could be a challenge.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Top-5-items-on-Microsoft-CEO-s-To-Do-list-5204052.php

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