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London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Banking giant HSBC announced Wednesday that it plans to shave costs by up to $3.5 billion with a combination of strategies, including reducing its retail and wealth management divisions as well as trimming IT operations.

HSBC is Europe’s largest bank, but it also has a large presence in other regions, operating in 87 countries with a staff of more than 287,000 people. No estimates of the potential size of staff cuts were given.

The bank revealed problems with spending versus revenue on Monday. Rising operational costs took 61 percent of revenue during the first quarter of the year, which cut into profits.

Bank officials say they want to cut operational costs by 48 to 52 percent by 2013. That equates to a reduction in annual costs of about $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion by 2013. Part of the cost savings will come from moving technology development operations to low-cost countries.

HSBC said it would focus on more profitable markets. That means it will pull out of Russia while directing investment into countries such as Mexico and Turkey and expanding into regions such as the Middle East and Asia.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AHN) – A man jumped to his death from the world’s tallest building on Tuesday morning. The man who leapt from the Burj Khalifa is the first recorded suicide since the building was completed last year.

The man, believed to be in his 30s and of Asian descent, jumped from an air vent and landed on a terrace at the tower’s 108th floor, police said.

According to an expert on the building’s architecture, he may have jumped from the 148th floor, where there is a small deck.

Accounts by officials and those who know the building contradict that belief. They said he was more likely to have fallen from the At the Top observatory on the 124th floor.

“The police operations room received a call about a suicide at the Burj Khalifa today, and CID and investigation teams were immediately dispatched,” Dubai police said in a statement.

Investigators said the man was employed by a company inside the tower. Police said statements showed that the man had requested time off but was refused.

Dubai, despite being a tax-free magnet for many expatriates, is also known for its skewed labor laws that overwhelmingly favor employers over employees. This has led to widespread abuse of workers, especially those from India and Asia.

Some believe the man’s suicide was a statement. Suicide rates in Dubai are higher than other developed countries and are linked to the financial situation and social abuse that many workers suffer from.

The 163rd story of Burj Khalifa was completed in January of last year. When it opened it was immediately inundated with problems after its highly touted debut. Issues included electrical issues and bad press following an elevator mishap that trapped more than a dozen people. Others were left stranded on the observation deck on the 124th floor.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) – After a five-year hiatus, a revived regional dialogue on human rights of migrant workers worldwide resumed in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Tuesday.

Ministers from Asian labor-sending countries are holding three days of business about endorsing protections for migrant workers, Human Rights Watch, Migrant Forum in Asia, and CARAM Asia said in a briefing paper. The protect should give priority to protecting migrant domestic workers, who are at especially high risk of abuse, and to ending recruitment-related exploitation, the organizations said.

The gathering marks the fourth round of the “Colombo Process,” a series of regional consultative meetings on Asian contractual migrant workers. Under the theme “Migration with Dignity,” delegates from 11 Asian countries that send large numbers of workers abroad are discussing strategies to improve coordination, optimize benefits from migration, and prevent worker abuses at home and abroad.

Several labor-receiving countries from Asia and the Middle East will attend as observers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Tuesday underscored the need for establishing an international regimen to administer cross-border migration and internal displacements, the outcomes of adversities caused by climate change.

“We need an international regime under the United Nations as our country is likely to have huge human displacements due to climate change,” she said.

Some 3 million Asian men and women migrate each year, a large proportion working in domestic service, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture in other Asian countries and the Gulf states. In 2010, Asian migrants sent home an estimated US$175 billion in remittances.

Gulf countries in particular rely heavily on Asian contract labor; for example, there is approximately one migrant domestic worker for every two Kuwaiti citizens. Migrants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have fueled construction booms in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

“Abuses against migrants are often linked to gaps in information, poor coordination, and competition for jobs, so it’s a big deal for these governments to sit around the table and address these problems together,” said Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Dhaka meeting is also a chance to share information about successful reforms with other countries in the region.”

The briefing paper “Protecting Asian Migrants’ Rights” prepared by New York based Human Rights Watch, urged delegates to pledge support for a proposed international convention on labor standards for domestic work, increase civil society participation in future regional dialogues, promote increased multilateral cooperation, and take measures to eliminate recruitment fees charged to migrant workers.

But inadequate protections mean migrants also risk an array of abuses, the groups said, including recruitment-related deception and debts, unpaid wages, hazardous working conditions, physical and sexual abuse, and forced labor, including human trafficking. Unlicensed recruiters often operate with impunity, migrants have limited information about their rights and channels to seek help, and immigration policies can trap workers with abusive employers.

“When high, and often inflated, recruitment fees leave migrants heavily indebted, they are especially vulnerable to abuse,” said Dr. Chowdhury Abrar, chairman of the international relations department at the University of Dhaka. “Cracking down on excessive fees and unethical recruitment practices will be a key ingredient to any reform.”

“Even though migrants from Asia confront similar abuses while working abroad, their governments have typically addressed these bilaterally, and the results have been far weaker protections than if they negotiated together,” said Mohammad Harun Al Rashid, regional coordinator for CARAM Asia.

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Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Philippine Airlines continued to face labor issues on Friday even as it assured passengers that it was ready for the worst — the first strike by the carrier’s biggest union in more than a decade.

“We apologize to our passengers for whatever anxiety and inconvenience threats of work stoppage have spawned,” president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said in a statement. “Rest assured we are doing everything we can to ensure that your flights will proceed as scheduled.”

PAL plans to rely on 134 partners, including 12 carriers in Southeast Asia, 11 in North America and two dozen in Europe, during the work stoppage, which would be the first since the union crippled operations in 1998.

The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association voted last week to strike in response to the company’s refusal to include an outsourcing plan in negotiations for a new contract.

The carrier, Asia’s first airline, averted a strike by flight attendants last October with the intervention of the government. But then it announced it was seeking funds for peso 2.5 billion ($58 million) worth of severance packages to outsource three non-core units.

The union representing administrative employees says 2,600 workers would be laid off if the company’s airport services, call center and in-flight catering businesses are outsourced.

But President Noynoy Aquino last week upheld the decision of labor officials allowing the plan, which is part of PAL’s cost-cutting measures to recoup losses during the global recession and weak sales.

PALEA wanted airline officials to negotiate without preconditions but PAL demanded that any new collective bargaining agreement exclude the issue of outsourcing. The impasse dragged on for five months, even while another union representing cabin crew accused the airline of “outdated sexist policies” such as a 40-year retirement age and “discriminatory” maternity rules.

Labor officials on Friday maintained its ruling in favor of the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines, and for the second time rejected PAL’s arguments.

The same day, PALEA held a massive rally in the nation’s main business district along with other labor groups.

A government-mandated cooling off period has kept the union from holding a strike. Early March, it filed a notice of work stoppage, which was approved by 86 percent of participating members.

The vote was held on Mar. 25. PAL submitted its counter-proposal three days later, on Monday.

“It’s not true that management refuses to convene negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement ,” Bautista said on the day of the rally. “The union’s claim that there is no justifiable reasons for the spin-off of three units… likewise have no leg to stand on.”

The submission of the counter-proposal “is the best proof that PAL is willing to negotiate,” added Bautista.

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Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – The University of Santo Tomas in Manila celebrated the 400th anniversary of its founding Friday. The school is the oldest university in Asia and has been recognized by the Vatican as a royal and pontifical university.

Pope Benedict XVI greeted the university on its quadricentennial with a taped video message played during a mass that marked the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of Catholic schools. The mass was held at the UST Grandstand and Open Ground, where two other popes had celebrated masses.

The university, which counts among its alumni national hero Dr. Jose Rizal and several Philippine presidents and bishops, holds the distinction of being the only educational institution visited three times by two popes – Paul VI in 1970 and John Paul II in 1981 and 1995.

Pope Leo XIII declared UST in 1902 a pontifical university, while Pope Pius XII gave the educational institution the title The Catholic University of the Philippines in 1947.

Aside from the video message, Pope Benedict sent a representative to join UST in its celebration, Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, the prefect of Vatican’s Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education, who led the concelebrated mass.

The university made a Thursday night countdown at the Quirino Grandstand with a program and fireworks display.

There are several alumni homecomings scheduled throughout the week, with graduates coming home from abroad to attend reunions. UST unveiled on Thursday a 10-meter bronze and glass sculpture to mark its quadricentennial. The sculpture has four figures – a priest, a teacher, and a male and female student.

The university is known for its academic excellence with its medical and nursing graduates topping government board examinations. It is considered one of the top four universities in the country.

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Annapolis, MA, United States (AHN) – A California graduate school instructor believed to have profited from fake military and academic credentials for a decade has been charged with mail fraud.

According to a criminal complaint, William Hillar has been offering workshops, accepting paid speaking engagements and conducting training for government agencies under fraudulent pretenses.

Hillar allegedly claimed for the past 10 years to be a retired colonel of the U.S. Army Special Forces who served in Asia, the Middle East and South America. His padded resume includes training in tactical counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance and psychological warfare.

He claimed to have a master’s degree in education, a doctorate in health education, and an honorary doctorate in intercultural relations.

The 66-year-old maintained a business called Bill Hillar Training as well as a website that outlined his alleged service record and university degrees. The Maryland resident taught a workshop at the Monterey Institute for International Studies from 2005 until he was removed by the school last year.

California-based Monterey Institute is a graduate school of Middlebury College that offers courses and workshops on areas such as international policy and sustainable development.

The school completed an investigation in November that found Hillar’s claims to be false. The institute said Hillar was not subjected to a pre-employment background check because he was an independent contractor who taught a one-credit workshop every semester.

The FBI says Hillar received a total of $32,500 from the school for 12 courses he taught.

Hillar has no service records with the Army and was never sent to any of the places he claimed to have been deployed. He served as an enlisted sailor for the Coast Guard reserves from 1962 through 1970. He attended the University of Oregon but has no post-graduate degree.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street bonuses can be a point of contention among not only the haves but the have-nots. Bonus levels for many dropped and only half report satisfaction with their amounts.

While many Americans consider bonuses a rare luxury and struggle to put food on the table and pay bills Wall Street mega earners some are reporting their bonuses dropped five percent each year the last two years. The still astronomical bonuses that can be he as high as $5 million dollars remain scrutinized by regulators, governments and banks across the globe.

For some switching employers had an either positive or negative reflection on their bonus amount. 15 percent of respondents claim switching caused their bonus to decrease while 12 percent found they took home more money. Another eight percent took home no bonus at all based on the eFinancialCareers.com survey.

The survey was sent to 1,009 people and respondents included financial firm employees who knew their bonus amount.

Despite the drop in cash individual bonuses still demonstrate Wall Street’s history of pay-for-performance remains intact.

The “average” bonus numbers on Wall Street for someone working at Goldman Sachs is reported to be around $430,000. Additionally first time bonuses also range in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The financial reports of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s reflect the investment banks spent an average of $330,212 on salaries, bonuses and benefits for each of their 124,556 workers in 2010.

A statement by eFinancialCareers state financial professionals specializing in investment banking, foreign exchange, derivatives, research and private equity are noted to reap the largest bonuses. Fund management, risk management and commodities bonuses were on average lower by comparison.

Across the globe the average bonuses for Asia-based financial markets professionals showed the largest gains marking an increase of 22 percent. Comparatively, average bonuses in the U.K. rose five percent.

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The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), after the first quarter economic review has reported that the Singapore economy expanded by 15.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2010. The Ministry has also declared that it will maintain the GDP growth forecast for 2010 at 7.0 to 9.0 per cent. The overall economic growth has also positively impacted the employment rates with more companies starting to hire in the first quarter.

The bulk of the growth was reported from the manufacturing sector which expanded by 32.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This was followed by the construction sector and service sector which expanded by 13.7 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively. The Construction sector will be invigorated by the recent announcement to raise its productivity – a S$250-million fund which will allow builders to apply for as much as 80% funding for workforce training, technology adoption and scholarships.

Broad based economic recovery in the US, growing economies of Asia and a sustained intra regional trade have all contributed to the incredible growth. The record high increase in tourist arrivals has also been an important driver of growth. Some analyst even opine that the government’s 7-9 per cent growth forecast is conservative and suggests that the Asian demand will keep the growth buoyant and even lend a double digit growth rate.

The strong rebound of the economy is spurring many enterprises and entrepreneurs to capitalize on the growth momentum. This is testified by the surge in enquiries to Singapore company formation agencies such as Janus Corporate Solutions. Ms. Jacqueline Low, the director of the agency says “though the recent developments in Europe is raising doubts about the maintenance of the momentum, overall there is a strong optimism and confidence that is prevailing here. Experts and entrepreneurs are confident that the regional demand will grow remarkably keeping the economic scene more vibrant, off late we are witnessing a steep increase in enquiries regarding company incorporation services from potential clients from diverse regions and industries. Our existing clients are also quite upbeat about the prospects of their companies.”

Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Philippine Airlines fought back on Thursday against a massive rally of workers at the nation’s business district protesting the carrier’s plan to lay off thousands of employees in a restructuring program.

“It cannot be business as usual: the global economic crisis of 2008 showed that airlines are in real danger of closure or bankruptcy without restructuring,” PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said in a statement.

The airline announced last month it would outsource its airport services, call center and in-flight catering businesses. It is working on raising severance packages costing 2.5 billion pesos ($58.6 billion) to 2,600 employees, following the Labor Department’s decision allowing it to restructure its operations.

The PAL Employees Association had threatened to strike in response to the “contractualization” of workers by the carrier.

“PAL employees should not pay for PAL’s financial crisis since we did not cause it,” the group’s president, Gerry Rivera, has said. “Moreover the retrenchment will reduce PAL’s losses by an insignificant 7 percent. The real reason for the mass layoff is not to save PAL but to bust the union and replace regular jobs with contractual workers.”

Villaluna, however, insisted the restructuring is not contractualization. “Affected employees will be retired early and paid their separation benefits in accordance with the ruling of the Department of Labor and Employment. It’s entirely up to them [workers] if they want to join the new service providers or not,” she said the same day PALEA and other unions gathered in protest in Makati.

Asia’s first airline, PAL began its cost-cutting measures early this year to recoup losses from the global recession and continued weak performance of the airline industry worldwide. It prevented a cabin crew strike in September with the intervention of the government.

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Queens, NY, United States (AHN) – A former dean of St. John’s University was charged Wednesday with using $1 million worth of school funds to pay for her son’s tuition and other expenses such as groceries and Victoria’s Secret lingerie.

Cecilia Chang faces a 205-count indictment including first-degree grand larceny, 69 counts of second-degree forgery and 64 counts of first-degree falsification of business records.

The 57-year-old was the university’s vice president for international relations and dean of the Center of Asian Studies until her suspension and eventual removal this year. She is accused of having non-work related expenses reimbursed by the university over a six-year period, and funneling a $250,000 donation to the school from a Saudi Arabian foundation into a non-profit she created.

An alumni of St. John’s who received her doctorate from Columbia University, Chang faces as much as 25 years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.

Chang’s official role included fundraising for the school, and she was often required to travel with dignitaries and take potential donors out for expensive meals or cater to their needs when they were visiting the United States. She would thus have her credit card charges regularly reimbursed, sometimes for as much as $50,000 a month.

A university audit last year, however, revealed that she had been submitting a credit card statement issued by a Taiwanese bank that had charges made by her son for groceries, gasoline, cable television, casino expenses, clothing and insurance.

Chang had several university-issued credit cards, according to prosecutors, but was allowed to use her personal credit card from Taishing Bank because she told school officials some places in Asia did not accept credit cards issued by U.S. banks.

Chang is also accused of using the Taishing Bank credit card to pay for her son’s tuition. She had the authority to award scholarships, and she gave her son a scholarship to the university’s law school. When she was told that her action was beyond her authority and that she had to pay for her son’s tuition, Chang allegedly used her personal credit card to cover the tuition and then submitted a false credit card statement so the expense could be reimbursed.

Prosecutors also charge that Chang misled a charity run by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom Foundation, into believing it was donating money to the university.

Chang had proposed the creation of a non-profit, Global Development, to the university but officials had rejected the idea. Despite the decision of the school, she created the non-profit and used the university’s letterhead and official e-mail account to communicate with the Kingdom Foundation about a donation.

Her letters to the Saudi Arabian charity included statements such as, “On behalf of St. John’s University, we would like to convey our deepest gratitude.” The money, worth $250,000, was donated to Global Development and later reportedly wired by Chang to China.

Chang “was highly respected by school officials for her ability to successfully secure large, sometimes million dollar, contributions,” District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “It is disheartening, indeed, to see an alleged betrayal of this magnitude which inexcusably deprived the University of much needed educational funds and could have a chilling effect on the school’s future fund-raising efforts.”

However, Chang’s lawyer, Todd Greenberg, told the New York Daily News, “Every dime that this woman spent was spent on behalf of St. John’s University, entertaining the people who St. John’s University told her to entertain.”

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