Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Air New Zealand’s economy Skynest bunk beds set for launch

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Passengers can book a four-hour session in the bunk beds from May for Auckland-New York flights but airline cautions against smuggling in children

Economy passengers on Air New Zealand’s ultra-long-haul flight between Auckland and New York can book a spot in the airline’s bunk-bed style sleeping pods from May, which will take to skies in late 2026.

In what the airline says is a world first, six full-length, lie-flat sleeping pods, are squeezed into the aisle of the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The pods, known as “Skynest”, will include fresh bedding, a privacy curtain, ambient lighting and kit with eye-masks, skincare, earplugs and socks.

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About 250 missing after boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsizes in Andaman Sea

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Trawler set off from Bangladesh and reportedly capsized due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding

About 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, according to the UN’s refugee and migration agencies.

The agencies said the trawler carrying more than 250 men, women and children reportedly sank due to harsh weather and overcrowding. It had departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh and was bound for Malaysia.

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China Evergrande’s billionaire boss pleads guilty to fraud

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Hui Ka Yan expresses remorse in trial proceedings after collapse of world’s most indebted property developer

A former steelworker who rose to become one of China’s richest people has pleaded guilty to charges including fundraising fraud after the collapse of Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer.

The property group’s founder, Hui Ka Yan, “pleaded guilty and expressed remorse” in trial proceedings at a court in China’s southern city of Shenzhen against him and Evergrande, the court said in a posting on its official WeChat account. He also pleaded guilty to misuse of funds and illegally taking public deposits.

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Floods, power outages and hundreds evacuated as Cyclone Vaianu lashes New Zealand’s North Island

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Cyclone crossed coast near Maketu peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130km/h (80 mph), heavy rain and large swells

Cyclone Vaianu made landfall in New Zealand’s North Island on Sunday, triggering floods, power outages and forcing hundreds to evacuate.

The cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130km/h (80 mph), heavy rain and large swells, national weather provider MetService said, describing Vaianu as a “life-threatening” system.

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Albanese didn’t return with shiploads of diesel. That doesn’t mean his Singapore visit wasn’t a success

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Having received assurances from Singapore over refined fuels, diesel supply will surely be next on the prime minister’s agenda

Anthony Albanese isn’t coming back from Singapore with a shipload of diesel in his checked baggage. That doesn’t mean his whistle-stop visit wasn’t a success, or that it won’t be seen in future as a pivotal moment if fuel stocks continue to be choked by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The government never expected that the quick whip to Singapore, with just one full day on the ground, would elicit a new supply of petrol or diesel. Singapore already supplies 55% of Australia’s unleaded, 22% of jet fuel and 15% of diesel.

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New Zealand’s North Island braces for Cyclone Vaianu with thousands ordered to evacuate

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Vaianu, forecast to bring heavy rain and winds of up to 130 kmh (80 mph), is expected to hit on Sunday

Thousands of New Zealanders were ordered to evacuate their homes on Saturday as the country’s North Island braced for Cyclone Vaianu, which authorities warned could cause coastal flooding and landslides.

Vaianu, forecast to bring heavy rain and winds of up to 130 km/h (80 mp/h), was expected to hit on Sunday, then pass west of the remote Chatham Islands on Monday, the country’s weather forecaster said.

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Concerns raised about motorbike tourist trail after death of British teenager in Vietnam

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Locals say the Ha Giang loop is rugged, unpredictable and congested, with some guides not prioritising safety

The recent death of a British gap-year student on the Ha Giang loop, a popular motorcycle tour through the mountains in north Vietnam, has heightened concerns about a trail reputed to be one of the most dangerous in the country.

Orla Wates, 19, from Surrey, was riding as a pillion passenger when she fell off and was hit by an oncoming truck, according to local media. She was taken to hospital in Hanoi, where she died from her injuries last week.

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Cutting fuel to Australia ‘won’t happen’, says Singapore PM, as Albanese secures pledge from our largest petrol source

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Australia and Singapore will ‘make maximum efforts to meet each other’s energy security needs’ in refined fuels and LNG, according to new agreement

Australia’s largest petrol source has pledged not to cut supplies, with Singapore’s prime minister telling Anthony Albanese that fuel will keep flowing despite the international crisis.

Albanese’s whistle-stop visit with his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, culminated in a new agreement that the two countries would keep sending one another fuel and liquefied natural gas, amid the “acute energy crisis” caused by the war in the Middle East. Australia and Singapore will also add a legally binding addendum to their free trade agreement on essential supplies like energy.

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Xi tells Taiwan opposition leader people on both sides of strait are Chinese in rare meeting

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Cheng Li-wun’s visit to Beijing has sparked controversy in Taiwan, with critics accusing her of being too close to China

In a rare meeting with Taiwan’s opposition leader, China’s president, Xi Jinping, declared that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were Chinese and wanted peace.

The meeting in Beijing between Xi and Cheng Li-wun, the chair of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT), is the first such contact in a decade. The visit has sparked controversy in Taiwan, with Cheng’s critics accusing her of being too close to China, a country that many in Taiwan see as a threat.

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Who can claim victory if Iran ceasefire holds? An early winner is China

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Beijing’s powerbrokers are credited with winning Iran over, although one analyst says they were ‘pushing an open door’

As the world struggles to make sense of what, if anything, was achieved by the ceasefire deal announced by the US and Iran on Tuesday, one major power that stands to win regardless is China.

Beijing’s powerbrokers are being credited with pushing Iran towards agreeing to the ceasefire, bolstering its status as a regional mediator. In China’s tightly censored domestic media, articles basking in the glory of China being the grown-up in the room at a time of international crisis were allowed to circulate.

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Strait of Hormuz not open, Abu Dhabi’s oil chief says as crude prices rise

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Uncertainty over US-Iran ceasefire pushes price of Brent crude towards $100 a barrel

The boss of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company has said the strait of Hormuz is “not open” despite the US-Iran ceasefire agreed earlier this week, as uncertainty over the truce pushed the price of Brent crude towards $100 a barrel on Thursday.

Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), said passage through the crucial waterway was subject to “permission, conditions and political leverage” by Iran. He said energy security and global economic stability depended on the strait being opened “fully, unconditionally and without restriction”.

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Hundreds search for wolf that escaped from zoo in South Korea

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Local school closes in Daejeon city as hundreds of emergency service and military personnel scour area around O-World theme park where the wolf escaped from

Authorities are hunting for a wolf after it escaped from a zoo in Daejeon, a South Korean city with a population of 1.5million.

More than 300 people – including firefighters, police and military personnel – are taking part in the search operation, an official from the Daejeon fire headquarters said.

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Hit New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords reunion gigs sell out in minutes

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Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement announce four shows at Wellington venue Meow Nui from next week – their first gigs since 2018

New Zealand’s self-described “fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo-a cappella-rap-funk-comedy-folk duo” Flight of the Conchords sold out their first shows in eight years in minutes this week, sparking a frenzy among fans.

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement formed the musical comedy act in 1998, soaring to worldwide fame off the back of their HBO comedy series of the same name with tunes including Business Time and Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros.

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Family pay tribute to British teenager killed in motorcycle crash in Vietnam

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Orla Wates, 19, who died after incident on popular Ha Giang loop, described as ‘beautiful, independent and very funny’

The family of a British teenager have paid tribute to their daughter who died after a motorcycle crash on a popular route in Vietnam.

The incident occurred on the Ha Giang loop in the country’s north, and Orla Wates, 19, died at the Viet Duc university hospital in Hanoi, according to Viet Nam News.

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Tropical Cyclone Vaianu may bring life-threatening winds to New Zealand, forecasters warn

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Category 3 cyclone is moving south of Fiji towards New Zealand, with winds at centre in excess of 150km/h

Tropical Cyclone Vaianu forming in the Pacific could bring life-threatening winds and heavy rain to New Zealand later this week, forecasters have said, with strong wind watches issued for the entire North Island.

The category 3 cyclone is moving south of Fiji towards New Zealand, with winds around the centre in excess of 150km/h, MetService said on Wednesday.

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New Zealand asks US to send fuel tankers to Pacific to alleviate pressure caused by Iran war

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After meeting with Marco Rubio, foreign minister Winston Peters says he made sure US understands ‘significant economic impacts on New Zealand and Pacific’

New Zealand has called on the US to send fuel tankers to the Pacific to help alleviate some of the significant economic and fuel pressure caused by the war in the Middle East.

Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, met the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in Washington on Tuesday, where they discussed bilateral relations, the war in Iran and the Pacific.

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World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’

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Exclusive: Former UN climate chief to co-chair Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality

Countries are being “held hostage” by their reliance on fossil fuels, a former UN climate chief has warned, describing the health impacts of climate change as “the mother of all injustices”.

Christiana Figueres, an international climate negotiator who helped deliver the Paris agreement signed in 2016, made the comments as she was announced on Wednesday as co-chair of a Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality.

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Thailand PM urges working from home amid fears over energy crisis

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Anutin Charnvirakul encourages measures such as home working and carpooling as country is reliant on oil imports

Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has called on the public to conserve energy, urging work-from-home measures and carpooling, as he warned of the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.

In a statement posted on social media, Anutin said Thailand was exposed to the crisis because of its reliance on imported oil and gas, and the country could not be complacent.

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When Suzuki met Suzuki: why a Tokyo dating agency is matching couples with the same name

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Japan’s ban on married couples having different surnames has prompted an event to highlight people’s reluctance to change their name

At the very least, the three men and three women calming their nerves on a Friday evening at a venue in Tokyo know they have one thing in common.

Spaced out across booths, they will soon be placed in pairs and given 15 minutes to get to know one another.

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One killed and buildings damaged as magnitude 7.4 earthquake strikes Indonesia

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Quake with epicentre west-north-west of Ternate island shakes cities and prompts regional tsunami warning

One person has been killed after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Ternate island, damaging buildings and triggering small tsunami waves.

The quake, which had a depth of 35km, occurred on Thursday at 6.48am local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicentre was 127km (79 miles) west-north-west of Ternate, an island in Indonesia’s North Maluku province.

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