Stories from around the Asia-Pacific Rim

AIR ASIA FLYING HIGH - Called Asia's answer to Richard Branson, former Malaysian music executive Tony Fernandes took over a bankrupt carrier, launched Air Asia and watched it soar as the region's largest passenger carrier. Now, the cost-cutting king is eyeing new routes including long-haul service, but always keeping to the mantra: Now, everyone can fly.

SOARING SKYSCRAPERS -  The battle to build the world's tallest tower, once essentially an American obsession, is now a worldwide craze, with much of the biggest erections in Asia and the Middle East. As buildings reach higher and higher, there is seemingly no upper limit to the quest to claim the world's tallest highrise.

Tahiti - Dreamy blue seas, gentle breezes, hula skirts, sexy smiles and aimless mirth, but the French brought trouble to paradise when they started nuclear testing in the South Pacific. An indepth look at the turmoil in Trouble in Paradise, or take a satirical tour of the protests in No Boom Boom here please.


Tahiti - Gauguin, Michener and Keith Moon had it right. Centuries after Captain Cook stopped by, the stunning islands of French Polynesia remain a timeless paradise for tourists seeking sand, serenity and clear blue seas in the South Pacific Paradise

* all pictures, unless otherwise credited, by Ron Gluckman
Tony Fernandes courtesy of Air Asia