Day: January 19, 2017

In Asia, electronic trash has reached new heights.

A growing number of gadgets — and more people who can afford to buy them — has led to a 63% increase in electronic waste in Asia, according to a study from the United Nations University. And that’s only in the past five years.

Phones, computers and other appliances have contributed to 12.3 million tons of e-waste generated across the continent between 2010 and 2015. China alone more than doubled its electronic trash within that time frame.

Shorter lifespans of technology, and therefore the need for replacements, is cited as another reason why e-trash is growing in Asia.

The study notes that e-trash is often dumped illegally, ultimately causing environmental problems.

For example, tech products often contain lead and mercury that are toxic to humans and the planet. Meanwhile, the process of burning electronics — which is often conducted by landfills to get rid of clutter — can cause chronic health issues.

Related: Where cell phones go to die

“It’s definitely a tipping point,” co-author Ruediger Kuehr of UN University told CNNMoney. “The countries [examined in the study] have to be aware of the issue not only from an environmental point of view but also a business and economic perspective.”

By not recycling electronic equipment, countries are losing resources essential for maintaining production chains in the future, he said.

Although most of Asia’s e-waste comes from its own regions, some is transported from western countries looking to dispose or recycle waste. But according to a two-year investigation from environmental group Basel Action Network, electronics taken to recycling centers in the U.S. often wind up in landfills in countries like Taiwan, China and Thailand.

Kuehr said Asia’s e-waste problem will be massive effort to solve.

“Politicians need to put it on political agendas to develop appropriate policies,” he said. “Solid financing, a good collection system and lots of good international cooperation are needed.”

The push for free tuition gained support in another state.

On Monday, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo became the second governor to propose a free tuition policy at public colleges this year, following New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Both plans need to be approved by their states’ legislatures.

Raimondo would limit the free-tuition program for residents to just two years, rather than four, at the state’s public colleges: University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island.

Unlike Cuomo’s plan, every Rhode Island resident who graduates high school in-state would be eligible, regardless of income. Cuomo’s proposal limits eligibility to families who earn $125,000 or less a year.

Related: Cuomo proposed free tuition at state colleges

Under Raimondo’s proposal, only new college students who enroll in the immediate fall semester after graduating from a Rhode Island high school would be eligible — no gap years allowed unless for military service. They must also maintain a 2.0 GPA while in college.

The scholarship covers the cost of tuition and mandatory fees for two years, but not the cost of room and board or meal plans — which could cost just as much as tuition at URI.

Annual tuition and fees currently cost in-state students about $12,884 at URI, $8,206 at RIC, and $4,266 at CCRI.

At the Community College of Rhode Island, students must use the scholarship for their first two years (which would cover the whole degree if they finish on time). At four-year programs, the scholarship could only be used for a students’ junior and senior years.

The idea is to incentivize students to graduate on time. Fewer than half of URI students, 15% of RIC students, and only 5% of CCRI students earn their degree on time, according to the governor’s office.

Related: Louisiana students are about to lose half their scholarships

Meanwhile, it estimates that more than 70% of the state’s jobs will soon require a college degree.

“When I was my children’s age, most jobs in Rhode Island required nothing more than a high school degree. But for all of our kids, that’s not the case anymore,” Raimondo said Monday.

Her office expects the program to benefit 8,000 students and cost $30 million a year once fully implemented, or less than one-half of 1% of the state’s budget. As with Cuomo’s plan, Raimondo has proposed the program as a “last dollar” scholarship, meaning that it will cover the gap a student has on their tuition bill after using up any federal or state grants he or she already receives.

Related: Average college degree pays off by age 34

Both governors are Democrats, and have included funding for the scholarship programs in their budget proposals. In Raimondo’s case, the push might be easier, since Democrats control both the Senate and House. In New York, Republicans control the Senate.

Former Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders called for free-tuition programs during their campaigns. Rhode Island and New York could be first to see it through.

Other states, like Tennessee, have made community colleges tuition-free after President Obama made a push for a similar nationwide program in 2015.

Are you a college-bound New York or Rhode Island resident? Share what you think of these plans with CNNMoney by emailing Katie.Lobosco@cnn.com.

CNNMoney (New York) First published January 16, 2017: 12:32 PM ET

The heir to the Samsung empire is facing possible arrest over corruption allegations. But if history is anything to go by, criminal charges won’t keep him away from the company for too long, if at all.

A judge will decide Wednesday whether to issue an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chief of Samsung who prosecutors say is a key player in a massive corruption scandal that has rocked South Korea.

Lee, who denies the allegations, isn’t the first top South Korean business leader to face accusations of corruption. And he probably won’t be the last.

His father, Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, was convicted twice — and pardoned twice.

Related: South Korean prosecutors seek to arrest Samsung heir

Other chiefs of the giant family-run conglomerates that dominate the South Korean economy — known as “chaebol” — have also been found guilty of criminal wrongdoing and then gone back to running their businesses.

Analysts say the trading of favors, bribes and political influence between politicians and businessmen is practically endemic in the country. But the sheer scale of the current political scandal that has engulfed Samsung and other chaebols is different from the individual cases they’ve faced in the past.

“Now, it’s a big scandal for the nation,” said Steve Chung, an expert on South Korean society at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The political crisis has led to vast street protests and a vote by lawmakers to impeach President Park Geun-hye.

Related: Do South Korea’s chaebols wield too much power?

The secretive chaebols are sprawling, multinational empires that account for a big chunk South Korea’s economy. They have a long history of criminal charges with limited consequences.

Here are some of the major cases:

Samsung chairman’s 2 pardons

Lee Kun-hee, the Samsung Group chairman, was convicted in 1996 of bribing politicians and sentenced to two years in prison. The prison sentence was overturned and he was pardoned the following year.

In 2008, he was convicted of tax evasion, but the three-year prison sentence was suspended and he was ordered to pay 110 billion won ($93 million) instead. In 2009, Lee received another presidential pardon.

The chairmen of Hyundai Motors, SK and Hanwha have also been convicted of crimes over the years. But they avoided lengthy prison terms, receiving suspended sentences and paying heavy fines instead.

Related: South Korea presidential scandal: What you need to know

Landmark decision overturned

Even if chaebol chiefs spend time behind bars, it doesn’t necessarily put an end to their wealth and power.

In 2012, a South Korean court jailed Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn for embezzlement, a decision that at the time was praised for breaking the pattern of lenient treatment for convicted chaebol bosses.

But Kim served just a few months in prison. The sentence was overturned in 2013 — and the landmark court decision itself was overturned the following year.

Kim remains chairman of Hanwha and is currently listed as the 47th richest man in South Korea, according to Forbes.

Managing from behind bars

SK chairman Chey Tae-won was convicted of embezzlement in 2013 and spent about two years in prison, one of the longest sentences served by a chaebol leader.

But Chey continued to oversee the SK empire from behind bars, receiving more than 1,700 visitors, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Chey was eventually pardoned in 2015 and reinstated as SK Group chairman last March.

‘Nut rage’

Finally, let’s not forget the ‘nut rage’ scandal of 2014, which trained worldwide attention on the behavior of one particular chaebol scion.

Cho Hyun-ah — the vice president and heiress of Korean Air, which is owned by chaebol Hanjin Group — flew into a rage and abused cabin crew staff over how she was served nuts on a flight.

Cho was found guilty of violating aviation law and sentenced to one year in prison. An appeals court suspended her sentence after she served just five months.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published January 17, 2017: 6:23 AM ET

If you thought India’s decision to ban 86% of its cash was ambitious, wait until you hear what it may do next.

The head of a government-run policy institute said on Thursday that the country could completely eliminate the need for credit cards, debit cards and ATMs in the next three years by switching to biometric payments.

Amitabh Kant said that even electronic payment methods may be “totally redundant” by 2020. Instead, all Indians will need for transactions is their thumb or eye.

“Each one of us in India will be a walking ATM,” Kant said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. That would represent “the biggest technological leapfrogging ever in the history of mankind,” he added.

Related: India is no longer the world’s fastest-growing economy

Arundhati Bhattacharya, head of the State Bank of India, agreed that such a dramatic shift was possible.

“This is something that’s eminently doable,” she said, pointing out that nearly 1.1 billion of India’s 1.3 billion people have already registered their biometric data under the government’s unique identification program.

The Indian government is testing a payments app that makes use of that biometric data, coupled with portable fingerprint scanners that cost about 2,000 rupees ($30) each.

India is already reeling from a ban on all 500 and 1,000 rupee notes announced on Nov. 8 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two notes accounted for almost all of India’s currency, and the move hit hard in a country where over 90% of transactions are in cash.

Related: 50 days of pain after India trashed its cash

Modi has said the note ban, aside from reducing tax evasion and money laundering, will help India move towards a cashless society. Moving to biometrics could also help crack down on corruption.

Digital payment methods have enjoyed a massive boost since the cash ban, but extending them to the entire country is a big ask since more than 70% of Indians don’t have smartphones.

Eliminating credit cards will likely be even tougher, but India appears determined to try.