Airbus A380 superjumbo lands in Sydney

25 October 2007 - The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has landed in Sydney on its first commercial flight, after a seven-hour journey from Singapore.

Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane dubbed the Superjumbo just over a week ago and passengers bought seats in a charity online auction.

It can carry some 850 passengers but is taking about 450 to Sydney.

The Superjumbo's advent ends a reign of nearly four decades by the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest airliner.

The new aircraft suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems but took off on time.

Hundreds of staff and passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport watched it lift into the sky, snapping the moment with pocket cameras and camera phones.

Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight.

Sydney Airport has had to make modifications to fit the giant plane, the BBC's Nick Bryant reports from the city.

Two 20th Century design icons - Sydney's Opera House and its Harbour Bridge - will form the backdrop for what the Airbus consortium hopes will become an emblem of the 21st.

With the Superjumbo's wing span almost the size of a football pitch, the airport has spent millions to accommodate the new plane.

To cope with the two decks of seating, it has had to construct new aero bridges.

It has also had to realign one of the taxi ways and strengthen a tunnel which runs underneath the main runway. -BBC

China launched its 1st lunar probe – heat up space race

China sent its Chang'e 1 lunar probe into space Wednesday, October 24, 2007 night from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in eastern Sichuan Province. The probe is expected to enter the moon's orbit on November 1.

There it will begin mapping the surface of the moon and conduct other explorations over a period of about a year.

China in 2003 became the third country in the world to send a man in to space. China successfully launched its first satellite, Dongfanghong 1 on April 24, 1970, becoming the fifth country in the world to launch a satellite.

The launch shows China is able to build and use the best technology, which has domestic, economic and military implications. Ultimately, it's about strategic advantage. They clearly see space as a new area of potential competition. This is moving in new directions, away from sea and air, and space launches are part of that.

Soon after Wednesday's launch, Xinhua quoted an unidentified spokesman of the military-run space program as saying China was not interested in a space race and that the probe's mission was "without any military aims and carrying no military facilities and equipment."

Embarking on an ambitious 10-year moon exploration program, the first lunar probe is a leap forward in the Asian space race that gave a boost to national pride, and the promise of scientific and military payoffs.

Just a week ago, Japan put a probe into orbit around the moon, and India is likely to join the rivalry soon, with plans to send its own lunar probe into space in April.

The Long March 3A rocket left a trail of smoke Wednesday as it soared into cloudy skies from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Casino King Lim Goh Tong dies Age 90

Oct 23, 07 - Casino King Lim Goh Tong, who turned a jungle hilltop into one of the world's most successful casino resorts, died today, the firm he founded said. He was 90.

Lim developed the hilltop Genting Highlands casino resort in the 1960s and founded the Genting group, which grew into a conglomerate comprising listed companies on the Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong bourses.

He was ranked 204th on the Forbes 2007 list of billionaires worldwide, with his family's assets valued at 4.2 billion dollars.

Besides gaming operations in Malaysia and Britain, as well as one planned for Singapore, Genting has interests in the leisure, power, oil and gas, property and plantation sectors.

Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Star Cruises, is the third-largest cruise operator in the world. Another subsidiary, Genting International, owns Stanley Leisure, the United Kingdom's largest casino operator.

"If there were more entrepreneurs like him, Malaysia would have achieved more in its economic development," former premier Mahathir Mohamad has said. "His struggle can be considered part and parcel of Malaysian development."

Born in 1918 in China's Fujian province, Lim was 19 when he moved as a poor immigrant to Malaya, as Malaysia was then known. Lim made his first fortune in heavy machinery trading after the Second World War.

He was almost 50 and a prosperous contractor when the idea to develop a hilltop resort in central Pahang state, close to Kuala Lumpur, came to him.

His vision for developing Pahang's Genting Highlands hinged on building a road to the resort site 1,800m above sea level. He began work in 1965.

Recounting a landslide that almost swept him away, he wrote in his 2004 autobiography: "Back home that night, I said to my wife that I had gone to hell but was told to turn back and continue with my work."

Lim completed the road and opened the casino in 1971. It became the flagship of the Genting group, which took its name from the Genting Highlands resort. His second son, Kok Thay, who now heads Genting, has lauded his father's work ethic.

"My father has often reminded me that there is no shortcut to success," Kok Thay said at Lim's 2007 birthday celebrations.

Lim was married to Lee Kim Hua, with whom he had six children. - AFP

China May Become World's Second Largest Consumer Market By 2015

BEIJING -- China is likely to become the world's second largest consumer market by 2015, said a report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report is based on a survey of 4,258 consumers in 13 Chinese cities from February to March 2007. According to the report, Chinese consumers are experiencing unprecedented wealth growth which is 3 to 5 times faster than developed countries in the past 50 years. Most Chinese consumers plan to spend more in near future to fulfill their family dreams.

The report said there are significant generational differences in terms of spending attitude among Chinese consumers. The strong interest in trading up, which means spending more money for more expensive products, was driven up by consumers' increasing desire for better goods and services and rising concern over safety and quality of cheap products.

Chinese consumers put more faith in brand names compared with the US consumers and they believe good brand represents quality, safety, effectiveness and durability, said Hsu.

Despite strong trading up desires, Chinese consumers continue to "treasure hunt" - make deliberate trade-offs to maximize "value" of their budgets.

They use similar strategies for treasure hunting as their counterparts in other countries except several unusual tactics such as group purchase for volume discount, said the report.

The report suggested global suppliers in China should establish strong, branded relationships with China's treasure-hunting consumers, provide the kinds of products that appeal to practical concerns and emotional needs, and be willing to customize their offerings to meet the needs of a geographically diverse population.

While the retailers must make sure the categories they carry are the ones that treasure-hunting consumers will seek and focus on a product's technical and emotional benefits, said the report.