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Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air leapt from obscurity to global fame in 2011 when it ordered 230 Boeing planes worth a whopping US$22 billion, the US maker’s biggest ever deal, but it has been dogged by safety issues for years.
When co-founder Rusdi Kirana was asked months later if bank loans would be needed to finance the purchase, he told reporters at the 2012 Singapore Airshow: “I am the bank.”
Founded in 1999 by brothers Rusdi and Kusnan Kirani, the budget carrier began…

The leaders of Japan and India are reaffirming their ties amid growing worries about trade and regional stability.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to his holiday home for dinner in a scenic resort by Mount Fuji on Sunday as a token of gratitude for accommodating him in the Indian leader’s home state last year.
Modi became the first foreign leader to visit Abe’s holiday home in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, at his invitation as the…

Hair pulled back tightly as she lounges on her red scooter, Ar is a rare sight among the male-dominated ranks of Bangkok’s motortaxi riders plying their trade on the Thai capital’s treacherous roads.
A veteran of seven years who works in the bustling On Nut district, Ar is among the thousands of women drawn to the work as gender roles in Thailand evolve, attracted by the flexible hours, decent wages, and a sense of autonomy.
She welcomes the changes as offering a chance for women to…

A group of Thai rappers has touched a nerve with an impassioned and now-viral music video in which they drop fiery rhymes about the ruling junta. Police are considering filing charges against the lyricists.
The generals that toppled Thailand’s government in 2014 have kept a tight lid on dissent but creative criticism through music and arts has been harder to control, although its effect has been minimal. The song Prathet Ku Mee (Which is My Country), uploaded to YouTube on October 22,…

Indonesia’s quake and tsunami battered city of Palu is facing a public health crisis a month after the disaster, aid agencies have warned.
On September 28, a magnitude 7.5 quake and followed by a tsunami razed parts of Palu on Sulawesi island, killing some 2,200 people and making more than 220,000 homeless.
Thousands more are missing, presumed dead, after entire neighbourhoods were destroyed. Desperate to stave off disease, authorities last week dropped disinfectant from helicopters on…

Business leaders have lost confidence in their company’s preparedness for Brexit, according to the results of a new survey conducted on behalf of international law firm Pinsent Masons.

Pension trustees have a legal obligation to address gender-based guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs) inequalities for contracted-out workers, the High Court has ruled.

Japan’s government on Friday rejected calls from a United Nations rights expert to halt the return of women and children to areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster over radiation fears.
UN special rapporteur Baskut Tuncak on Thursday warned that people felt they were “being forced to return to areas that are unsafe, including those with radiation levels above what the government previously considered safe”.
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Japan’s…

The Philippines is considering halving the time for Chinese tourists to get visas to five days, as it set a 10.8 per cent growth target for foreign visitors next year following the reopening of Boracay after a massive six-month clean-up.
But even as the island banks on tourism, tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat made it clear Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment Group would not be allowed to build a casino on the island to woo visitors.
“No casino in Boracay. It’s not going to…

The UK government remains committed to delivering a pensions dashboard and has not scrapped the project, the pensions minister has confirmed.