PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times, Wall St Journal Asia editions
SINGAPORE, May 27 (Reuters) - The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal carried the following stories in their Asia print and/or website editions on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
FINANCIAL TIMES (www.ft.com)
-- The rice market showed tentative signs of easing after Cambodia became the first country to lift trade restrictions; the world's eighth-largest rice exporter imposed a ban on foreign sales of rice two months ago to fight inflation, but Prime Minister Hun Sen said the country no longer faced a shortage.
-- Over three days this week, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will hold 17 hours of bilateral talks with 45 African leaders. Japan needs African votes at the United Nations if it is to realise its long-held ambition of a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, and it wants access to minerals and oil.
-- The Hong Kong stock exchange is considering extending trading hours for futures and options in a move that would boost cross-market activity with London and bring Hong Kong more into line with rival Asian bourses, the chairman of the Asian branch of the Futures Industry Association said.
-- Yeung Kwok-Keung, chairman of Country Garden (2007.HK), a Chinese property developer, has beaten foreign private equity groups, including Blackstone (BX.N) and Carlyle [CYL.UL], to buy a stake in Television Broadcasts (TVB) (0511.HK), one of the world's leading Chinese language TV stations, for at least HK$10 billion ($1.28 billion).
WALL STREET JOURNAL (www.wsj.com)
-- The Chinese government has cleared the country's nearly $75 billion national social-security fund to invest more freely with local private-equity funds, according to people familiar with the situation, making it the biggest potential pool of capital for Chinese currency private-equity deals in the country.
