International

China is just one of the Asian countries that PR firms continue to build their businesses in.

One of the perks of a PR job is the chance to travel far and wide. And, there are likely many publicists out there considering a move abroad, whether temporary or permanent.

PR firms are focused on building their businesses in Asia, opening up opportunities not just with new clients, but for firm staffers. But making that move is a huge decision.

After the jump, we have a Q&A with Sara Donaldson, Edelman‘s manager of comms and business development in Asia Pacific. She’s been in Beijing for about two years and talks about making the transition, the differences in the work, and how government control of the media affects her work.

Click through for more.

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Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce company that is partially owned by Yahoo, has hired Washington D.C. lobbying firm Duberstein Group, a step that many believe is the set-up to purchase Yahoo.

Yahoo owns 40 percent of Alibaba. That relationship, which also extends to Yahoo Japan, is considered Yahoo’s greatest asset. Those two companies along with Japan’s Softbank are in the middle of untangling their business relationships.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has expressed an interest in buying all of Yahoo. However, there will likely be an issue with a Chinese company trying to buy a U.S. Internet business.

“Hiring a Washington lobbying firm could help Alibaba address any U.S. political opposition to a complete takeover of Yahoo by a company from a country that controls and censors the Internet,” Reuters reports.

The relationship was revealed in a government filing that was effective December 1.

[via Reuters, BusinessWeek]

In this photo, a camera crew seems to be omitted and the snow appears whiter. Photo: KCNA/Reuters

The world has seen more of North Korea since the death of Kim Jong Il than it has in the many years prior. With the world watching, the isolated and secretive country has been sure to put on a show for global onlookers.

Over the past week and a half, we’ve become familiar with the overwhelming expressions of grief coming from the North Korean people, which some speculate may be exaggerated because the authoritarian government wouldn’t have it any other way. We have an ABC news clip about that after the jump.

The Guardian also suspects that an image from the memorial service (above) may have been Photoshopped (click to their website for the original image). It’s not clear what would be gained by altering the photo, but we’re confused over most everything else about this country.

Today was also the public coronation of Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il’s son, to “supreme leader.”

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Samira Ibrahim during a rally on Dec. 27. Photo: AP/Ahmed Ali

A 25-year-old marketing manager, Samira Ibrahim, has won her case against the Egyptian government, banning virginity tests that have been performed on women arrested during the March protests in Tahrir Square.

CNN reports that the tests will no longer be performed in military prisons and on those in “temporary detention.” Authorities denied that the tests were being performed before admitting it later. Ibrahim says she was tortured and humiliated by the authorities and has received death threats since launching the case.

“I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being,” she said.

Women have moved into the forefront of the ongoing changes in Egypt. Last week, images of a young female protester being brutally beaten by the Egyptian military — the “blue bra girl” –incited the hugest protest of women in Egypt in nearly a century.

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Kim Jong Il liked the movies and was said to have a collection of 20,000 of them.

News today has focused on the next steps for North Korea, a country that manages to keep itself shrouded in mystery despite the forces of social media and other information-sharing tools.

What we know: newscasters wept on-air and citizens were weeping openly in the streets after news hit of Dear Leader’s death; Kim Jong Il wanted his youngest son Kim Jong Un to take the leadership role once he was gone; the U.N. has once again raised the issue of ongoing human rights abuses in the country; and one man’s trip to lay flowers at the North Korean embassy in London is newsworthy.

What we don’t know: mostly everything else.

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Cohn & Wolfe has announced its second Asian acquisition in as many weeks. The firm has purchased Singapore-based XPR, a move that adds 28 new employees and increased digital capabilities.

C&W announced the acquisition of impactasia on November 30. That purchase included everything except the firm’s Singapore office, which had been bought out by two of the firm’s partners.

XPR is a digital agency with clients including Groupon and BMW Asia. The agency will be called Cohn & Wolfe XPR. Karen Ho, Gavin Foo and Adrian Lee, partners at XPR, will serve as group MDs.

According to a C&W spokesperson, 75 percent of XPR’s accounts includes digital or social media media work, with more than one-third of the firm’s 2011 revenue coming from this space.

Lord Bell

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the U.K.’s “advocate and voice of the public relations profession,” came out with its response to the Bell Pottinger scandal that unfolded (on video!) last week.

In a post on the CIPR Conversation blog, the CEO of the organization Jane Wilson said comments on the video show “poor judgment,” were “over-claiming” or “ill-informed,” and said PR can only be “seen as a strategic, senior management discipline” when “incidents such as this are a thing of the past.”

At the same time, Wilson defends PR and lobbying, saying that, as a former MP, Tim Collins, head of public affairs at the firm, would have strong government connections, and using them is something that other organizations, like philanthropic groups, do. Talking about the coverage in The Independent, Wilson writes, “There is a lot of what appears to be wilful misunderstanding or fake outrage at the use of what are in fact open and above board communications channels.”

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Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk

The Cold War is back on bitches! First we have ballet dancers acting as double agents. Now, we have allegations from frequently shirtless Russian PM Vladimir Putin that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton encouraged this week’s post-election protests in Moscow.

Russians voted on Sunday, with Putin’s party, United Russia, showing a loss of support and facing accusations of fraud. Even former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has called for a new election. Thousands took to the streets in protest. Shouts of “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin” could be heard.

Secretary Clinton’s comments expressing concern over manipulation of election results were in line with what election monitors had already reported. “And we are supportive of the rights and aspirations of the Russian people to be able to make progress and to realize a better future for themselves, and we hope to see that unfold in the years ahead,” she said.

“She set the tone for some activists in our country and gave them a signal,” Putin responded. He also expressed concern over “interference” from foreign governments. Add to that the breakdown of relations between the two governments over a variety of foreign policy issues and the fears in the Russian government about the influence of the Arab Spring.

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Bell Pottinger MD Tim Collins was one of the execs caught on video.

U.K. lobbying firm Bell Pottinger is coming under fire for comments staffers made on a video gathered by journalists posing as reps from the government of Uzbekistan.

Reporters from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism posed as the reps to capture the execs talking up their relationships with government officials, including Prime Minister David Cameron, discussing how they use “dark arts” like fake blogs to bury stories online, and the work they’ve done with other countries like Sri Lanka that have been charged with human rights violations. Uzbekistan has a reputation for child labor and other human rights violations as well.

Since the story came to light, the firm has also become embroiled with the phone hacking scandal with news that Bell Pottinger advised Rebekah Brooks on which police station she should go to for questioning, suggesting she avoid those that give too much access to the media.

You can watch the video here.

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Ketchum‘s Sean Fitzgerald has been named EVP in China and director of the firm’s Shanghai office. The job also comes with responsibility for the Beijing and Guangzhou operations. Fitzgerald is currently partner and MD of Ketchum West. He will relocate to Shanghai in January.

Dave Chapman, who is a partner and director for Ketchum West now, will take up the vacant MD position, managing the operations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Ketchum announced that it was taking a majority stake in its China operations in January of this year. Fitzgerald will report to Kenneth Chu, partner and CEO, and Jon Higgins, the firm’s senior partner and CEO of international operations.