Asia Business

A passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers was stopped after flying into the financial capital Mumbai from Thailand, Indian customs officials said.The snakes, which included 44 Indonesian pit vipers, were “concealed in checked-in baggage”, Mumbai Customs said in a statement late Sunday.”An Indian national arriving from Thailand was arrested,” it added.The passenger, details of whom …

Snakes on a plane: Indian smuggler caught with venomous vipers Read More »

China said Monday it “firmly rejects” US claims that it had violated a sweeping tariffs deal, as tensions between the two economic superpowers showed signs of ratcheting back up.Beijing and Washington last month agreed to slash staggeringly high tariffs on each other for 90 days after talks between top officials in Geneva.But top Washington officials …

China ‘firmly rejects’ US claim that it violated tariff deal Read More »

A logjam in the trade talks between the United States and China could be broken once Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping speak, US officials said Sunday — a conversation they said could happen soon.Trump on Friday accused Beijing of violating a deal reached last month in Geneva to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs the …

US says trade row with China could ease after Trump-Xi talks Read More »

The airline industry’s flagship goal of decarbonising by 2050 is now “in peril” due to climate-sceptic policies, including those of US President Donald Trump, the leading airline association IATA warned on Sunday.The emergence of leaders favouring fossil fuels and recent regulatory rollbacks are “obviously a setback… it does imperil success on the 2050 horizon”, Marie …

Key climate target of airline decarbonisation ‘in peril’: IATA Read More »

Indian airline IndiGo said on Sunday it had signed an order for 30 more Airbus A350-900s, bringing its shopping list for the widebody aircraft from the European aircraft manufacturer to 60.”We are placing a firm order for 30 Airbus A350-900s,” said Pieter Elbers, the CEO of IndiGo, which was founded in 2006 and is behind …

Indian airline IndiGo orders 30 Airbus A350 widebody planes Read More »

To reduce radiation across Japan’s northern Fukushima region after the 2011 nuclear disaster, authorities scraped a layer of contaminated soil from swathes of land.Now, as young farmers seek to bring life back to the region once known for its delicious fruit, authorities are deliberating what to do with the mass of removed soil — enough …

Recycling contaminated soil from Fukushima: Japan’s dilemma Read More »

Nintendo hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its levelled-up new console hits shelves Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget’s high price.Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 — …

Nintendo aims to match Switch success with new console Read More »

A short drive from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site, novice farmer Takuya Haraguchi tends to his kiwi saplings under the spring sunshine, bringing life back to a former no-go zone.Haraguchi was 11 years old when Japan’s strongest earthquake on record struck in March 2011, unleashing a tsunami that left 18,500 people dead or missing.The wall …

‘Moving forward’: the Gen-Z farmer growing Fukushima kiwis Read More »

Ecuador’s government apologized Saturday to some 300 people who worked as farmers for a Japanese textile firm in conditions which a court likened to modern-day slavery.These people worked on plantations that produced abaca, a fiber used in textiles and the auto industry.As of 2021, Furukawa’s plantations for abaca covered almost 23,000 hectares spread over three …

Ecuador apologizes to farm workers deemed to live like slaves Read More »

A top industry group had a stern rebuke Saturday for automakers fuelling a “price war”, a week after Chinese EV giant BYD announced sweeping trade-in discounts, with multiple competitors following suit.”Since May 23, a certain automaker has taken the lead in launching a substantial price drop campaign… triggering a new round of ‘price war’ panic,” …

Chinese automakers get stern ‘price war’ warning after discount spree Read More »