Thailand Business News

• Testing times for Chinese banks

  With the world's second largest economy bidding farewell to its decades of roaring double-digit growth, it is only natural that Chinese banks will find it increasingly difficult to make big profits just by lending more.

• Thai Auto production to exceed 2.2 million units this year

  The Federation of Thai Federations (FTI) projected Thailand’s automobile production will reach 2.2 million units this year, resulting from resumption of full capacity operations, FTI Automotive Industry Club spokesman Surapong Paisitpattanapong said on Thursday.

• Facebook to sell shares at $38, values company at $104bn

  Facebook will officially begin trading at $38 per share on Friday morning in what will be the biggest IPO ever from an internet company.After months of speculation, and a week of last minute adjustments from Facebook, Friday's listing on the NASDAQ index will raise $16 billion for Mark Zuckerberg's company.The CEO himself, who founded the company in his Harvard dorm, is expected to become an instant billionaire, selling over 30m shares to net over $1.1bn.The $38 shares, which will be available to buy to the public, will see the company valued at a staggering $104 billion overall, with $81 market capitalisation.Dwarfing GoogleThe $16 billion-valued IPO dwarfs the previous mark achieved by an internet company. Google hit the stock market in 2004 in the years following the dotcom bust, and raised $1.67bn.Facebook's offering, however, is in a completely different stratosphere.Related StoriesScientists show off the future of Wi-Fi - smash through 3Gbps barrierNews In Brief: One More Thing: Rio Ferdinand for England, according to EA SportsYahoo in embarrassing Facebook lawsuit blunderGoogle unveils its semantic search plans - the Knowledge GraphGmail gets more Google+ with people-friendly makeover

Bangkokpost.com : Top Stories

• Army general hopes to solve forestry row

  PHETCHABURI : First Army chief Udomdet Seetabut has suggested he should mediate a conflict between Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn and the National Human Rights Commission.

• Court set to begin 2010 riot inquests

  The first of 18 inquests into state authorities' involvement in the bloody red shirt crackdown which claimed 91 lives in 2010 will be held tomorrow.

• Thaksin: Let's put unity before justice

  Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday urged a crowd of 45,000 red shirts to set aside their anger and frustration about social and legal injustices in the name of national reconciliation.

L.A. Times - Asia

• 

  Panetta to confront Pakistan at NATO summit on transport costs

  At this weekend's NATO summit in Chicago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will discuss what he considers Pakistan's price-gouging. He also aims to find agreement among allies on the Afghanistan war.WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta heads to this weekend's NATO summit prepared to confront Pakistan over what he considers price-gouging for transport of supplies to Afghanistan and hoping for a "consensus" among allies over the war effort.- 19-05-2012 | 12:03
• 

  NATO and G-8 summits allow Obama to showcase foreign policy

  His status as a world leader, rather than the slow economic recovery, will be in the spotlight.WASHINGTON — Whatever else they achieve, back-to-back summits of world leaders this weekend hosted by President Obama will showcase the perks of incumbency. An American president with sagging approval ratings on the top campaign issue — the anemic economic recovery — will stand in the spotlight as a seasoned world leader.- 19-05-2012 | 12:00
• 

  For Afghanistan's Karzai, funding tops NATO summit agenda

  The Afghan president, who hasn't been shy about criticizing the West, is turning on the charm as the mission winds down and long-term aid is in question.KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan President Hamid Karzai, perhaps best known in the West for periodic well-aimed jabs at his NATO allies, is embarking on a determined charm offensive as he faces the prospect of seeing troops and, perhaps even more crucially, dollars slip away from his country.- 19-05-2012 | 12:00