YANGON | Thu May 24, 2012 9:13am EDT YANGON (Reuters) - Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years next week to deliver a speech at an international forum in Thailand, her party said on Thursday. Her decision to venture outside the country she had only expected to return to temporarily in 1988 comes after a year of dramatic change in Myanmar after almost a half century of military rule.Suu Kyi, 66, won a parliamentary seat in April after engaging with the reformist rulers once part of the junta that locked her up for 15 years for her fight against dictatorship.An official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party told Reuters Suu ... Continue reading →

Thu May 24, 2012 9:05am EDT * Days of protests about power cuts tolerated until now * Government has announced measures to address problem* ASEAN chief calls for calm* China says protests not about its electricity importsBy Aung Hla TunYANGON, May 24 (Reuters) - Myanmar police broke up a demonstration against power cuts by hundreds of people in the town of Pyi on Thursday and briefly held five people for questioning as protesters tested the limits of democratic changes for a fifth day.Among those detained in Pyi was a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National league for Democracy (NLD) party and four activists from a human rights organisation, who were later freed, NLD officials and members said.Several NLD members were also detained in the ... Continue reading →

By Mike Collett-White CANNES, France | Thu May 24, 2012 1:53am EDT CANNES, France (Reuters) - Brad Pitt, in Cannes to promote his latest movie "Killing Them Softly", has no intention of following fiancee Angelina Jolie into directing, he told Reuters on Wednesday. The 48-year-old, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, hit the red carpet at the film's world premiere on Tuesday, drawing noisy crowds and the world's media to the glitzy ceremony.As well as playing mob enforcer Jackie Cogan in the violent but darkly comic gangster movie, Pitt was one of its main producers, a side of the business he has become increasingly involved in over the last six years.Asked whether he might add directing to his career in movies, he replied: "No, not a ... Continue reading →

Thu May 24, 2012 6:18am EDT * Single-shareholder stake to be capped below 50 pct * New rules expected in June; transition period likely* To apply to domestic and foreign investors* Rules could jeopardize DBS's $7.3 bln bid for Danamon (Adds DBS comment, share prices)By Rachel Armstrong and Janeman LatulSINGAPORE/JAKARTA, May 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank is set to limit the maximum stake a single shareholder can take in the country's banks to below 50 percent, a move that could scupper Singapore-based DBS Group's $7.3 billion bid for Bank Danamon.DBS's acquisition plans were thrown into limbo late last month when the Indonesian central bank said it would not approve the deal until it had published a long-awaited set of rules on bank ownership. Bank ... Continue reading →

Thu May 24, 2012 4:31am EDT * Renesas will detail tie-up terms with TSMC on Monday * Renesas struggling with high costs and competition* Media reports say capital raising, job cuts loom* Shares end up 1.9 pct, but down by half in past 2 mthsBy Mari Saito and Jonathan StandingTOKYO/TAIPEI, May 24 (Reuters) - Japan's loss-making Renesas Electronics Corp said on Thursday it will tie up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in the microchip business as it struggles to keep up with aggressive rivals like Samsung Electronics.Renesas gave no details on the tie-up, which it will reveal in a news conference next Monday, but chipmakers increasingly are tapping the technological prowess of companies such as TSMC, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, to rein in costs.Renesas, ... Continue reading →

By Olivia Rondonuwu and Matthew Bigg KARAWANG GIRANG, Indonesia | Thu May 24, 2012 6:42am EDT KARAWANG GIRANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Anti-tobacco advocates in Indonesia plan to file a class action lawsuit this month using cases of child addicts in the hope of forcing tougher regulations on a society where one in three people smokes. It is a rare attempt of its kind to constrain a tobacco industry which looks to the world's fourth most populous country and its growing appetite for cigarettes to replace dwindling sales elsewhere.The suit against tobacco companies and the Indonesian government argues that feeble regulation has left children dangerously exposed to the risks of smoking."There are ... kids who have fallen victim to the impact of cigarette companies and smoking. ... Continue reading →

By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING | Thu May 24, 2012 4:45am EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has fled his village in northeastern China, evading a security clampdown to seek help from lawyers for his son who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Reuters that he walked out of his home in Shandong province at 3 a.m. (1900 GMT) on Tuesday, eluding the increased number of sentries near his village by avoiding roads and running through fields. He arrived in Beijing on Wednesday evening after a six-hour journey by car.His activist brother escaped Dongshigu village in late April after 19 months of detention ... Continue reading →

By Manoj Kumar JALANDHAR, India | Tue May 22, 2012 8:44am EDT JALANDHAR, India (Reuters) - Buried in recent monthly data for wholesale prices in India, the wild gyrations of a humble vegetable tell the tale of an economy trapped in inflation by its own rigidities. Back in December, after a bumper harvest of potatoes, furious farmers dumped tonnes of their crop on roads in protest over a crash in prices: four months later, the annual wholesale inflation rate of the potato is galloping at 53 percent.In street markets and on the handcarts of vegetable hawkers, the rise has been even steeper, a shock for millions of Indians who lay their tables each day with curries made of onions, tomatoes, lentils and "aloo", or potatoes."We ... Continue reading →

Tue May 22, 2012 4:52am EDT * Comes after Chinese Premier calls for growth measures * Economy in April showed fresh signs of weakness* Stocks rise on prospects for pick up in growth* Measure seen as more "fine tuning"By Kevin Yao and Carrie HoBEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 22 (Reuters) - China will fast track approvals for infrastructure investment to combat a slowdown in the economy, a state-backed newspaper reported on Tuesday, showing how Premier Wen Jiabao's call for policies to support growth is being put into action.The pace of investment in the likes of roads, bridges and real estate is running at its weakest in nearly a decade, April data showed, suggesting the world's second-biggest economy is heading for a sixth straight quarter of slowing growth.To provide ... Continue reading →

Tue May 22, 2012 7:46am EDT * Yen weakens after Fitch downgrade, move seen brief * Fitch warns further downgrades possible* Says Japan's debt plan "leisurely", suffers political risk* Cut puts Fitch's ratings one notch below S&P, Moody's* Investors on edge over sovereign debt due to Europe's crisisBy Stanley WhiteTOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) - Fitch cut Japan's sovereign credit status on Tuesday to the lowest level among global ratings agencies as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt.Fitch Ratings cut Japan's long-term foreign currency rating by two levels from AA to A plus, the fifth highest investment grade. It cut the more important local currency rating by one notch from AA minus to A plus. Both were given ... Continue reading →