asia and the rest of the world. the other dimension is connecting the past with the present and future. in other words, connecting the historic arts to the contemporary arts of today. for our visitors, we translate our vision into our brand promise, which i want all of you to remember when you leave the building. the past is never static. the past is full of potential for new discovery, new knowledge. our programs are to unlock the great potential of the past, to find a new perspective. to look at the past with today's perspective, today's questions, so that we can learn more from the past. in doing so, we want to inspire the creativity for our program, the creativity that exists within every one of us, to create new conversations, new questions. awaken the past, inspire the next. in doing so, we want to appeal to our lovers and art newbies. in other words, the museum is for everyone. whether you are local or far away. no matter your interest is in asia or elsewhere in the world, everybody has a connection. we want

myanmar is southeast asia's second-largest country.r than france, and it borders two rising powers, china and india. despite international sanctions, china has become the biggest foreign spender in myanmar with more than $5 billion in annual trade. india's right on its heels with $4 billion in trade. neither country has attached any moral conditions to doing business with myanmar, the way the united states perhaps would. so the fact that myanmar is now making overtures toward washington suggests a few things. it is seeking a hedge against china's influence in the region. it wants the west to drop sanctions. and it wants more generally to reengage with the world. for washington, these are all positive signs. president obama spoke of a policy pivot toward asia in his tour there last month. he also struck an agreement with australia to keep 2,500 american troops in that country. myanmar's progress opens a window for the u.s. to further strengthen its footprint in asia and maintain a balance of power on that continent. the chinese will sti

asia's middle class numbers are set to soar at the turn of the century asia accounted for just aboute population, middle class consumption. by 2030, right here, the organization for economic cooperation and development says that could rise to as much as 40%, and by 2050, asia's middle class could actually make up even more than that. it could make up as much as 60% of the world's middle class consumption. by then asia's middle class will likely have a much greater affect on what's sold around the world. for instance, in 2004 general motors, for example, sold one car in china for every ten it sold in the united states. but five years later, in 2009, that ratio had actually reached one to one. in the future, if you think about this, if this number skews more towards chinese preference, those tastes could determine the design of gm cars that actually americans buy instead. looking at real money terms, in 2009 the middle class here in asia spent this much, just under $5 trillion. but by 2030, just 18 years away, that could rise to nearly $33 trillion. so there's a lot of money and defini

now, the adb played out three scenarios for asia.a recession just within the euro-zone itself that could reduce growth by as much as 2% next year. the second involveds a deep recession in the euro-zone and that could drag the u.s. into recession and reduce growth by up to 2.5% by 2012 and third looks at a drop in european and u.s. gdp to 2009 levels, worst case scenario. there is a silver lining to all these and shows less fallout in asia than during the 2008 global financial crisis. the adb finally adds this, east asia should be able to weather another global financial crisis. that is if the region's policymakers respond promptly, decisively and collectively so the adb is keeping a cautiously optimistic outlook into 2012. >> all relative and certainly asia looks pretty good when you compare it with europe and the u.s. thanks, ramy inocencio. charles? >> coming up on "world business today," china is shaking things up at this year's u.n. climate change summit in south africa and could mean big changes for countries around the world. w

one lucky enough to shoot the moment of signing the documents that entered history as the belle of asia accords we were fairly we were left on the military airfield so i approached a k.g.b. officer and said what do we do look we're missing such an important meeting. said it's ok get in i'll take you for. several minutes later the team gets learned he was being driven to a secret place named the school in the central part of the bell of asia forest it was in this place at the head will be a rose stone is left just give each and decided to invite his counterparts from russia and ukraine under the pretext of addressing joint economic problems. were i knew yeltsin was a normal man because to me sheridan prime minister said he would have a good relationship with him taking here to belive as your for hunting persuade him there was enough time and opportunity for it so i invited him with you. the plot of land called viscously is known as the highest place in belle of asia forest in one nine hundred fifty seven following an instruction from nikita of a big mansion the hunters was built after wh

the dense bill of asia forest where belarus borders poland in soviet times people would come here and excursions from all over the us as. a bell a recent t.v. journalist was the only one lucky enough to shoot the moment of signing the documents that entered history as the belle of asia accords we were fairly we were left on the military airfield so i approached a k.g.b. officer and said what do we do to prove look we're missing such an important meeting or like. i said it's ok given i'll take you for. several minutes later but i didn't get son and he was being driven to a secret place named the school in the central part of the belle of asia forest it was in this place at the edge of b.l.o. rose stein is left shushkevich and decided to invite his counterparts from russia and ukraine under the pretext of addressing joint economic problems. i knew yeltsin was a normal man because jimmy sheridan on minister said would you have a good relationship with him taking here to believe as your for hunting persuade him it was enough time and opportunity forward so i invited him. thank the plot of

both in central asia and in the south in south asia that essentially is going to cut pakistan out of the formula and i don't think united states cares very much what's going to happen after withdraws its troops in two thousand and fourteen and i think they would rather not withdraw their troops which is the nub of the problem because just on november second russia china iran and pakistan had a meeting in istanbul which they all agree that they would pressure the united states not to leave troops in afghanistan and i find it very difficult to imagine if this fallout in relations between pakistan and the united states is not somehow tried to that position i think this i think this chessboard is much broader than we then we imagine it to be and that it includes really multiple zones some of them worldwide short of those pakistan being in a nuclear state it's a bit of the be on the side of the u.s. isn't it. well it has been but you know it's always been it's always basically saw the relationship the united states as being in its interests i'm not sure it's ccs relationship with the unit

japan needs to do studies on the northeast asia situation. with more forsight. >> he said japan's intelligence services need more money and personnel to do their jobs properly. >>> the families of japanese people abducted by north korea want the government to take advantage of the change of leadership. they want the government to get their relatives back. the relatives and supporters held a rally in tokyo as north koreans attended kim's funeral. representing the families, he says that the government should act now instead of just watching the situation. >> translator: this is a time of great change and should be taken as an opportunity. >> his daughter was abducted in 1977 at age of 13. >> translator: i believe that japan needs to identify the stance of north korea under its new leader. only then will the government be able to restart negotiations, which might create an opening to resolve the problem. >> his wife said japan should tell north korea to ensure the abducties safety. there is express optimism about the change in leadership. others

that was asia times correspondent have asked. and speaking of double standards u.s. leaders now urging governments abroad to embrace internet freedom today secretary of state hillary clinton was at the hague to advocate internet freedom and today as people increasingly turn to the internet to conduct important aspects of their lives we have to make sure that human rights are as respected on line as offline and in the pounds president obama has also urged other countries to open up freedom of speech on the web the more freely information flows the stronger the society becomes because then citizens of countries around the world. they're all governments accountable. but at the same time the u.s. is making moves to tighten internet security here at home federal law enforcement and national security aiming to get new regulations that would make it easier for them to wiretap internet communications so that includes e-mail facebook skype and other sites the mandate would allow the u.s. to wiretap these sites so how can the u.s. for all internet freedom in other countries ge

the plot of land called viscously is known as the highest place in bel of asia forest in nine hundred fifty seven following an instruction from nikita of a big mansion the hunters was built after which it became a favorite place for soviet leaders on december the seventh one thousand nine hundred ninety one hunting party was organized for the ukrainian leader leonid kravchuk. it was already getting. said he wanted to go hunting so we all got into the car with two guards we went closer to his coolly where there was. a european bison is the symbol of the bill of asia forest the largest population of them in the world can be found here hunting them is prohibited however so leonid kravchuk proposed wild boars instead. of no way to get closer just to be certain. the boar stood there eating. but as we moved. walked away. it. didn't suit it on that day and killed nuffield. in one thousand nine hundred one step. was the morton of the viscously residence he was asked to accommodate russian and ukrainian officials in the government residence and meet boris yeltsin in person yeltsin was the last

goes straight in southeast asia and his latest trip here now is the fact that the u.s. is going to basically they owned a spot china but also russia and central asia is the same say so the russians as these days you know what they're going to do they got cut off the supply of nato u.s. troops in afghanistan by closing the north and distribution network and the americans depend on does that work which is also rise by russia to supply their war in afghanistan because they back east enders they had enough with the americans as well and that he was of course the drone war in pakistan certainly a lot. going on here i want to get back to the elections in russia. and secretary of state hillary clinton in such a public outlash coming from her and regard to the elections you have to be curious as to why she's making such a public debacle over this do you think this is the obama administration putting on a tough face for the next election cycle possibly i mean today alone president obama said he killed twenty two terrace he said he killed and he's telling his critics to ask osama

military forces in asia. because you know, moving the base is an essential part of washington's overall plan. that includes moving about 8,000 marines from okinawa to guam. the u.s. pacific territory is set to become a crucial regional hub for the american military. japan also needs u.s. help to counter the chinese military's growing influence in asia. china has taken an increasingly bold stance on territorial issues in japan's southern waters. on top of all this, the japanese government does not want north korea's new leader to take advantage of the stalled negotiations. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." >>> south korea's intelligence a

all southeast asia and asia there are a lot of similarities. >> he is a male entity. he is not -- are you referring to the story? >> it's interesting you should say that. a unique indian concept is one of half male, half female. and that is -- unlike some dances the solo dancer portrays all of the parts in the story. you can portray a feminine aspect and then masculine aspect with the bow and arrow. the male has to portray feminine and the female has to portray masculine. there is a very fierce dance and a soft sort of dance and every dancer has to learn all those aspects. it's very, you know, my teacher i call him a guru in this art form you have to study very, very hard. you have to learn about all the cultural aspects. he says it's liberating because he enjoys and has to learn to bring up the feminine aspect. he's a strong character it's a challenge for him and he likes it. the stories are metaphor cal. i don't look at this that this is a man or woman. there are qualities we all have that some of us are in touch with and are not. in our culture we think people shou

and in the business bulletin the russian markets are in the red following in asia. find out what's on the indices in about twenty minutes. and online twenty four hours a day you're watching r.t. with the final results of russia's parliamentary elections still due the overall picture of a brand new board of lawmakers is already clear united russia party has secured the lead but the ruling group is seeing a significant drop in popularity. reports. with almost one hundred percent of the votes counted the party has garnered just under fifty percent of the vote the communists came in second but third place by russia with liberal democrats on the board to police the three of the parties failed to get the required week per cent of the votes needed to get seats in the duma now though not yet final but the results indicate that the party which has crushing the dominee to the country's politics for years now is on track to lose its two thirds majority in the duma for comparison in the two thousand and seven elections united russia got sixty four percent of the boat and now it

a european bison is the symbol of the bill of asia forest the largest population of them in the world can be found here hunting them is prohibited however so leonid kravchuk proposed wild boars instead. said to me suits linnet. had no way to get closer just to be certain. the boar stood there eating. but as we moved. walked away. i didn't even shoot it. didn't shoot it. and killed nuffield in nine hundred ninety one stepan martis york was the morton of the viscously residence he was asked to accommodate russian and ukrainian officials in the government residence and meet boris yeltsin in person yeltsin was the last to arrive in viscously that day in the evening i met him at the entrance it was clear that yeltsin had just come from a social function. visit was carefully prepared for everyone realized that the outcome of the talks as a whole depended very much on his mood. i was standing at the front door to the residence and i held this part of them open for him. i greeted him. and he was led to his. there he rested until it was supper time. the verdict on the soviet union was pronounc

told strain in southeast asia and his latest trip he announced the fact that the u.s. is going to basically cool day owned a spot china but also russia in central asia as the same saying a thousand times correspondent pass com by. and speaking of the double standards u.s. leaders now urging governments abroad to embrace internet freedom today secretary of state hillary clinton was at the hague to advocate to avocate internet freedom and today as people increasingly turn to the internet to conduct important aspects of their lives we have to make sure that human rights are as respected on line as offline and the president obama has also urged other countries to open up freedom of speech on the web the more freely information flows the stronger the society becomes because then citizens. come through. their own governments accountable but at the same time the u.s. is making moves to tighten internet security here at home federal law enforcement and national security aiming to get new regulations that would make it easier for them to wiretap internet communications so that

for the for europe the recession or the economic policy makers in asia already. in. recession even though europe is the largest market for asian exports but of course we're suffering like this something in a recession like this and you have to depend on the much less you have to. intervene no demand tried to boost the mystical assumption and to take the weight of the decline in exports to europe so i think most of asia is doing. well enough coping with the decline of europe now we're hearing the noise is that germany is also on the line here and what's this going to do to germany's status as the de facto leader of the eurozone i suppose. well this is difficult or impossible to see germany being downgraded actually germany's been been dragged down by euro partly because their five nations in their lack of five now showed this template they'd like italy and greece to get themselves into so heavily that there's no way to out of it and then if germany would have to bail out of this country stand germany's credit on credit rating. and of course. if you want to play hardba

, nations in the asia pacific nations in the asia pacific region will face a super aging society like that of japan. we would like to establish a social security system that is sustainable for japan's aging society where birth rates are low. i would like japan to be a role model for other countries in the region. >> about 40 member states meet every four years to discuss employment issues and economic policies. noda also said japan's economic policies in the last decade have focused too much on the market with little regard to their impact on employment. he added the current government led by the democratic party wants to create jobs to counter people's concerns and promote economic growth. >>> christmas season's in full swing in japan and the stars are glittering with festive decorations. these hand-sewn snowmen, hearts and christmas stockings are simple designs but they come with an inspirational story. all the decorations are made by a group of women who lost their jobs to the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. on "the road ahead" we look at how these ornaments helped the women ove

that would affect how all of northeast asia. prime minister noda has ordered his government agencies and ministries to find out what is really going on in the country. the japanese police and self-defense forces are on the alert just in case. >> what could happen if the transfer of power is not successful? >> well, one possibility is that the north korean military could make some kind of move to take power. kim jong un made his first official public appearance last year. but he still lacks authority. controlling the powerful military won't be an easy job. another possibility is that some kind of citizen revolt. north korea has food shortages and a low standard of living. people in the country are not really happy. if any kind of revolt happens in the country, north korean refugees could flee to china, south korea and even japan. so far there have been no such report of confusion. but the japanese police and self-defense forces are on the alert, just in case. >> what impact could kim's death on security in northeast asia as a who

banks in asia getting a hit from the weakness in european banks.lso we've got the long-term italian debt auction, the ten-year bonds will be sold later this day. also a little profit taking before the beginning of the new year. i wanted to point out there in japan, the nikkei down nearly .3% as the yen hits a ten-year high against the euro. the your roe has been falling quite sharply over the past few days. charles? >> traders in the united states. they saw red in wednesday's session. alison kosik brings us the latest from wall street. >> stocks fell wednesday with the tech and financial sectors among the hardest hit. trading volume was light as expected, but the losses weren't. the dow lost 139 points closing at 12,151. the nasdaq dropped 1.3% and the s&p 500 fell as well slipping back into negative territory for the year. the nasdaq and s&p 500 have just two sessions left to make up their losses. with no major corporate or u.s. economic data in the mix, investors turned their focus back to europe. the bond auction by the bank of italy was initial

asia, a priority for canada after u.s. believes keystone. and in "the wall street journal," canada shops zero leal after the pipeline halt. and it is a halt. at a press conference not long ago with a representative of the company, the company that's making that pipeline. so he said last week they laid off 60 employees and there are more coming as a consequence of this decision. and indeed, there are now canadian proposals to dramatically increase the capacity for whale from alberta to reach the canadian west coast in order to be shipped to china. these plans are being sent with a view towards diversifying away from an unreliable partner the united states and instead they are looking to china. and this is all being planned with a long-term focus on the chinese markets. mr. durbin, canada is not waiting around. i wonder if you share my concerns. and i would ask how a sensible is canada's alberta oil market to the chinese market? >> mr. chairman, thanks for the question. i'm not sure i can give you a clear answer on the accessibility of china t

>> nina, another down down here in asia. the markets in this part of the world really tracking the u.s. losses. take a look at hong kong. you'll see it coming right off the top, fairly sharp losses from the opening. not surprising because the u.s. in turn is reacting to the fears that the eu agreement is basically not enough. we had moody's saying it would revisit ratings of all the eu countries. and fitch expecting significant economic downturn. >>> tech stocks got hit after intel cut its forecast. exporters were weak, of course, on the european concern. one stock to tell you about today, olympus up by nearly 5.5%. there's a report that the auditors will approve the quarterly earnings report. now, they have to submit this report by thursday, olympus does, to remain lifted. if they don't, they'll be taken off the nikkei. investors confident that that's not going to happen. i want to quickly show you what's been going on in shanghai. the market down nearly 2% for the day as a fourth day of losses. the actual index is now at i

>> we knew about a meeting that tooklace in southeast asia. we knew that two people, actually, who were involved in the u.s.s. "cole," one of them later became the suicide bomber, one of t two suicide bombers on the "cole." and the other person we were able to aest him and i was able to talk to him with my colleagues in yemen. his name was fahad. his role was to help facilitate the logistics of the attack. his role also was to videotape the operation: so al qaeda can use in the their own propaganda. and fahad mentioned to me that delivered money to southeast area to one of the main people in al qaeda who was basically his boss in the organization. >> rose: and the money would be used to... >> he didn't know. he said they delivered $36,000 him and the suicide bomber. and at that time it was very curious. first of all, yemen is a poor country and they were supposed to meet in singapore, howeve they were not allowed into singapore because of... they didn't realize they needed a visa, so they ended up in bangkok. rose: and the singaporeans are pre

the russian markets are lower at noon in sympathy with asia and europe the r.t.s. is shedding more than one and a third of a percent then my six is down three quarters of a percent. and a quick look at some individual share moves on the my six most energy majors a down and weaker of crude with was nasty losing more than one percent financials are also under pressure with the t.v. down almost two percent bucking the trend is poor is gold as precious metal stocks are often used as a safe haven in times of uncertainty. russia's biggest mobile phone retailer eurostar is planning to buy one of its main rivals all telecom commerce on daily says this seventy million dollars deal would help euro set five hundred twenty stores to its chain the total number of the outlets would then top five thousand. russians insurance companies seem to be resilient against the global economic downturn research by consultants all over wyman shows that most insurers expect their business to have grown thirteen percent this year and up to twenty percent next year they also forecast. more cons

economic distress have dragged western economies down over the past few years, it seems as though asia had been appearing to defy gravity. now it seems the signs are that things could be changing as the euro zone's debt crisis sends a chill through the world's global economy. let's have a look on japan first up. we've had interesting figures out there. japan's quarterly survey came out showing a grim outlook among big japanese manufacturers struggling, on the one hand, strong currency of the yen and slack export demand. we saw a preliminary number from china's hsbc's purchasing manager's index and that in turn showed that manufacturing in the world's second biggest economy is now contracting. the financial times reports that chinese exporters of stocks have been particularly badly hit, especially those who export to europe. two of hong kong's biggest ipos this year fizzled today. >> we're going to get to those disz appointing hong kong ipos in just a moment. first, the asian stock markets finishing low across the board. investors reacting to all of that negative outlook that we've, par

thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss oversight efforts and help with asia. as many of you may be where this will likely be my final testimony before congress as the inspector general to be effective december 24th, i will step down as the dod ing. in my first month alone at the dod ig i testified three times before congress. two of the three hearings dealt with critically important issues of oversight contingency operations and selfless asia. noting that the nation was engaged in the war and that we had a pressing need to strengthen oversight to protect the war fighters and the american taxpayers. i immediately and determined to make oversight the contingency operations in south west asia a number one priority. as a result, i instituted a number of organizational changes to the structure and focus of the dod efforts and to increase hour in theater presents which is regularly augmented by our expeditionary teams. i believe strongly that the in the theater presents is absolutely essential to conducting oversight of operation and in beijing with military and civ

. >> the death of kim jong-il shocked many people in southeast asia. a region that almost uniquely has long maintained friendly relations with north korea. governments here reacted quite differently to those in many other countries. in myanmar people learned of kim's passing via innet or satellite tv. many expressed regret on hearing the news. >> translator: i think his death is a real shame. because we were acting in trade after kim jong-il took power. >> we developed friendly relations, and i hope that won't change. >> indonesian foreign minister offered his government's condolences. >> we wish to express the hope and the confidence even that the people will be able to overcome. >> in jakarta, flowers were delivered to the north korean embassy. the sorrowful reaction reflects friendly relations between the nations and north korea dating back it years after world war ii. they were brought together under the nonalign movement is many of developing countries that said they belong to neither the eastern nor western flocks during the cold war. the relatio