Finished an issue of BusinessWeek. In Asian business, Mitsubishi Motors finally zips past the scrap heap, smart marketing, new models n cost cuts helped the automobile manufacturer avert a financial meltdown. The Japanese company posted a loss of US$4.7b last yr but has since been recovering slowly, posting at most a US$560m loss this yr. In Germany, the country's new n 1st female Chancellor, Angela Merkel, may be a weak campaigner, but she's a skilled Reichstag tactician, n Germany can see much needed reforms being carried out by her at the helm.

In European Business, Gazprom, a Russian LNG giant, is boosting natural gas exports n opening up to foreign investors. The company is building a US$5b 1200km underground gas pipe from under the Baltic Sea in Northwest Russian to north Germany. It will carry 55billion cubic metres of gas a yr to Germany. Cover story about Asia's top 50 companies. The top 10 are: 1. PTT(Thailand Energy giant) 2.PetroChina 3.Oil and Natural Gas(India) 4.S-Oil(S.Korea) 5.Tata Steel(India) 6.POSCO(Steel,S.Korea) 7.Shinhan Financial Group 8.LG Corp 9.Samsung Electronics 10.MISC(Malaysia Int'l. Shipping)