In what could be a major blow to U.S. plane maker Boeing (BA), Japan Airlines on Monday announced it has finally decided to purchase 31 A350 wide-body jets from Airbus, with a worth placed at $9.5 billion. Moreover, the purchase agreement between the two companies has options for a further 25 aircraft.
China's Web and online activity has been found to be heavily guarded, scrutinised and policed by two million people, according to a report by local Beijing News.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key came to the defense of the country's tourism campaign, "100 per cent pure New Zealand," in a conference in Bali, Indonesia ahead of the APEC summit. In the tourism conference focusing on sustainable development, Mr Key said the 100 per cent pure campaign continued to be a success when it was first used to promote New Zealand in 1999.
What could have been a peaceful and relaxing week-long holiday for residents turned otherwise when northern China was again surrounded by fog and pollution on Sunday. The situation was so extreme that authorities had to suspend air flight operations as well as closed at least six expressways.
Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is at it again, this time leaking 114 gallons of highly radioactive contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean.
Japanese Telco NTT Docomo has just unveiled in its home turf an intelligent wearable device that could topple Internet search giant Google's avant-garde Google Glass device.
They may be becoming one of the world's richest dominions, but the Chinese are a known sloppy pack when touring other countries. Yes it is a fact. Otherwise, China's very own National Tourism Administration won't be publishing a 64-page Guidelines On Civilised Travel Abroad if the Chinese were behaving civilly and properly outside of their home turf.
It was a photo contest not meant to show the most vivid, beautiful and eye-turning picture. It was a photo contest meant to show off the most thought-provoking and livid picture that would most perfectly capture the state of Florida's water pollution problem.
Eighty-six per cent of consumer payments by Australians are done in other ways except cash, indicating how far ahead if the country in terms of becoming a cashless society.
The World Economic Forum had its first Human Capital Index of the most successful countries in the world
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region stands to gain between 38 and 57 million additional international tourist arrivals by 2016 from visa facilitation and could lead to 2.6 million more jobs in APEC economies. These are the findings of a research report released by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). The findings of the report were presented at the APEC High Level Policy Dialogue held in Bali, Indonesia on Tuesday.
The Aussie dollar remains higher despite the U.S. government shutdown
Those already looking forward to their retirement may also well plan ahead for their golden age years. According to a Global AgeWatch Index report released by the UN Population Fund and advocacy group HelpAge International, the best country to grow old into is Sweden because of its superb social support, education and health coverage.
The federal government of India, which seriously intends to cut the country's gold imports, has called on its many wealthy Hindu temples to disclose their gold holdings. But the institutions flatly rejected it, invoking the all familiar religious cliché 'God forbids.'
Japan has urged its local governments as well as national universities to stop referring to Google Maps for directional advises on their respective Web sites. Japan was furious over how Google Maps treated some of its disputed islands.
Organisers of the Taipei leg of the world-renowned Color RunTM event are currently in the hot seat for allegedly dumping into the city's Dajia Riverside Park the remnants of the coloured powder it had doused on the marathon runners on Saturday.
China is inarguably working to achieve so many things right now. Aside from racing to have cleaner and improved air quality by 2017, it only has set its sights to launch its own space station by 2023.
Russia's law banning "gay propaganda" doesn't defy the charter of the Olympic Games, and so the winter event will proceed as scheduled in 2014 at Sochi, the International Olympic Committee announced on Thursday.
Have equity investors already priced in 'QE Forever'? If so, is there nowhere left to go but down?
Four years since China blocked Facebook after activists used the portal to communicate their vendetta, the country has decided to partially lift the ban but only in select areas, particularly the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Twitter has likewise been granted albeit only with the same limited access. However, Chinese netizens don't seem to be excited over the latest announcement in their microblogging hemisphere.
New Zealand's sheep milking is predicted to be big industry for New Zealanders in the future with Blue River Dairy planning to invest millions of dollars in new equipment. Due to the decline of dairy exports, the trade deficit in New Zealand grew to $981 million or NZ$1.2 billion for the month of August. This is the biggest trade deficit for the country in five years. Exports slumped to their lowest since Sept. 2012 as dairy exports were down 1.8 per cent.
Smartphone shipments in the world's biggest market China has been forecast to hit more than 450 million units in 2014, according to research firm IDC. The jack up will be triggered by the government's issuance of 4G licences as well as the foreseen Apple (AAPL) - China Mobile alliance. Will Tim Cook's company finally regain its bruised share in the China market pie?
The ongoing 2½-year political disaster in Syria has expanded to include food crisis, affecting children who are now on the verge of malnutrition.
People wanting to live longer and breathe in fresher, cleaner air may want to get out from mega cities in China, India, Indonesia and Europe and migrate to other regions in the world. A map recently released by NASA has specifically and graphically pinpointed where air pollution is at its deadliest around the globe.
Authorities in China arrested a 16-year-old youth to strike a message and elicit fear to those who commit online rumour mongering. But the outcry of the public, manifested also through online furor, wilted the officials' convictions enough for them to release the youth they had alleged as troublemaker. Epic fail.
Good thing Qantas Airways staff discovered the 20-centimeter (8-inch) snake way even before passengers boarded its plane bound for Tokyo. Otherwise it would have been chaos equivalent to the 2006 American action thriller film 'Snakes on a Plane.' Imagine combining aerophobia, the fear of flying, and ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes.
Australia is one of the cheapest places in the world to buy an iPad
ZYL Limited (ZYL), an ASX-listed metallurgical coal exploration and development company, has paid a total penalty of $66,000 after the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) served two infringement notices on the company for failing to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations. The infringement notices pertain to an ASIC investigation into ZYL announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
In the post-war era, there is the strong relationship between economic and electoral success. Despite having steered the nation through the 2007/8 crisis, Australia's left of centre Labour Party was defeated at the 7 September election 2013, primarily for other political reasons.
New Zealanders work longer hours but have low productivity levels when compared with other workers in other developed nations. According to report from the Productivity Commission, the output of New Zealand workers is a fifth less than their counterparts in other countries.
