People in the pyrotechnics department at Hong Kong Disneyland will lose their jobs as of 2 January, 2018, reported local media over the weekend.

The job cuts come on the back of the decision to temporarily suspend the theme park’s nightly fireworks display, as the park undergoes plans for a HK$10.9 billion (S$1.9 billion) expansion.

Although the total number of employees in the fireworks depart is unknown, speaking to the SCMP a park spokesperson said, “fewer than 10 people” had been fired with a number others being transferred to other departments, “This has been a difficult decision for us. Every effort has been made to redeploy the affected cast members,” she said.

The park’s expansion which is expected to take six years has been the source of much controversy in the territory. Hong Kong Disneyland reported losses for the second year in a row in 2016, totalling HK$171 million. Yet, the finance committee of the legislative council approved HK$5.4 billion in taxpayer’s money in May, after months of opposition in the council to fund the expansion of the theme park. The rest will be financed by Disneyland directly. The Hong Kong Government is Disneyland’s largest shareholder.

The expansion looks to feature new themed zones around Frozen, the Marvel franchise, as well as, a revamp of the Sleeping Beauty Castle where the signature fireworks are held.

With the completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, the government hopes to boost the park’s visitors by 52 per cent to more than 9 million in 2025.

This article was first published in Human Resources.

HONG KONG – A collection of French artist Claude Monet’s personal belongings, including a pair of round-rimmed wire spectacles, have fetched almost US$11 million (S$14.8 million) at an auction in Hong Kong, Christie’s said.

The dainty glasses, made from gold-coloured metal, went to an unnamed Asian buyer on Sunday for US$51,457, far exceeding the auction house’s estimate of US$1,000 to US$1,500.

The sale included other rare items, such as Monet’s pencil sketches, paintings and Japanese woodblock prints from the French master’s personal collection.

A sculpture of a cat from 19th century Japan’s late Edo or early Meiji period, sleeping curled up and measuring 32.8cm, went under the hammer for US$67,538.

“This collection provides an intimate insight into the life of Monet the artist and Monet the collector,” said Adrien Meyer, co-chairman of the Impressionist and Modern art department at Christie’s.

The top lots sold for well above their estimated price.

An oil painting of a cliff face overlooking the sea by Monet, titled “Falaises des Petites-Dalles”, went for US$4.6 million. Another landscape, “Trois arbres a Giverny (Peupliers)”, fetched US$4 million.

Over 75 per cent of the lot – which went for a combined US$10.99 million – was snapped up by Asian buyers. Hong Kong’s auction houses are well-known for feverish bidding, particularly by wealthy Chinese collectors.

Monet’s artworks have broken world auction records.

The painting “Meule”, from his famous grainstack series, sold in New York last year for US$81.4 million, a record for the French master, Christie’s said at the time.

The previous record was set in June 2008, when “Water Lilies” took US$80.4 million at a Christie’s sale in London.

One of Monet’s early works – pencil sketches of sailboats on paper when he was a teenager – was sold for a relatively modest US$136,685 in Hong Kong on Sunday.

TOKYO – The badly decomposed remains of 10 people have been found on Japan’s coast across the sea from North Korea, along with the wreckage of two boats, officials said Monday (Nov 27).

The discovery comes just days after a group of eight fishermen, who said they were from North Korea, washed up on the same shore.

Police said two cadavers were found in separate places on the edge of the surf on Sado island, which lies around 750km from North Korea across the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

The bodies had begun to putrefy, and had nothing to identify them, senior local police official Hideaki Sakyo told Agence France-Presse.

However, he added, there were boxes of North Korean tobacco as well as boat parts and life jackets with Korean script nearby.

A wrecked wooden boat with squid-fishing equipment was also found on the coastline.

Separately, coastguard officials spotted eight bodies inside a battered wooden boat off northern Akita prefecture.

High waves had prevented officials from investigating since the boat was first spotted on Friday, they said.

Television footage showed a wrecked vessel with an eight-digit number on it, which washed up on Oga peninsula on Sunday.

“Nothing else was found on the beach nearby, and so far we haven’t found anything” that suggests a definite link with North Korea, a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan’s coast every year.

Sometimes the boats’ occupants have already died at sea, a phenomenon local media refer to as “ghost ships”.

Experts say some North Korean fishermen travel far out to sea in order to satisfy government mandates for bigger catches.

But their old and poorly equipped vessels are prone to mechanical and other problems, including running out of fuel, and there are few ways for them to call for rescue.

Surviving drifters frequently request to be sent home, but some of them are defectors who are eventually sent to South Korea.

Japan and North Korea have a tense relationship. But the Japanese coastguard occasionally rescues North Korean fishermen in maritime accidents in regional waters.

Hyderabad, India – Indian authorities have cleared beggars off the streets and brought in 10,000 extra security forces for Ivanka Trump’s biggest foreign mission since her father became president.

President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter is to be the key speaker Tuesday at the opening of a three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad alongside India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The southern city is home to the India operations of Google, Facebook and Amazon.

The 36-year-old, who is an official White House advisor, will seek to press women’s empowerment in business.

She will also underline the growing friendship between the United States and India – so the host country is taking no chances.

Trump will be greeted in Hyderabad by Modi who will host a gala dinner at the Falaknuma Palace, a luxury hotel once owned by one of the nizams who ruled the city before India’s independence.

Authorities have spruced up an open-air market around Charminar, a 16th-century mosque that is one of the city’s icons. Media reports have suggested that Trump could visit the market.

Police have cleared hundreds of beggars off the streets, saying they cause nuisance and obstruct traffic.

More than 10,000 security personnel including anti-terrorist forces and dog squads will be deployed, and Trump will travel around Hyderabad in her own special bullet proof vehicle with US Secret Service taking care of close security.

The visit has been clouded by US media reports questioning Trump’s clothing line and its supply chain as well as a snub by Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, who has reportedly refused to send senior staff with Trump to India.

“They won’t send someone senior because they don’t want to bolster Ivanka,” CNN quoted a senior State Department official as saying.

But US business leaders will be in the Trump delegation joining more than 1,200 entrepreneurs from 150 countries at the meeting.

“Entrepreneurship… is a key priority for this administration. The US recognises innovation and entrepreneurship as essential tools for job creation, economic growth, and stability…” Trump said ahead of the visit.

“Globally, between 2014 and 2016, entrepreneurship activity among women increased by 10 per cent. One study estimates that closing the gender entrepreneurship gap worldwide could grow our global GDP by as much as two per cent.”

Trump’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or We-Fi, aims to boost access to business capital for women in the developing world.

According to Trump, women-owned businesses in the developing world suffer an annual credit deficit of $300 billion, either by being unable to borrow or receiving only high-cost, short-term credit.

The We-Fi was first proposed at the G20 summit in Hamburg this year and is supported by Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other countries.

Karangasem, Indonesia – A rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali could erupt at any moment, authorities warned Monday as they raised alert levels to maximum, accelerated a mass evacuation and closed the main airport, leaving tourists stranded.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke that have been belching from Mount Agung since last week hae now begun shooting more than three kilometres (two miles) into the sky, forcing flights to be grounded.

Some 40,000 frightened people have fled their homes around the volcano but as many as 100,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials said after raising the alert to its highest level.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres (47 miles) from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta, has also been widened to 10 kilometres.

“Continuous ash puffs are sometimes accompanied by explosive eruptions and a weak booming sound,” the National Board for Disaster Management said.

“The rays of fire are increasingly observed at night. This indicates the potential for a larger eruption is imminent.” Agung rumbled back to life in September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby. Its activity decreased in late October and many returned to their homes.

However, on Saturday the mountain sent smoke up into the air for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption – caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.

Then on Monday so-called cold lava flows appeared – similar to mud flows and often a prelude to the blazing orange lava seen in many volcanic eruptions.

“I’m very concerned because I left my house behind and I’m also worried about family,” said 36-year-old farmer Putu Suyasa, who fled with some of his relatives from a village eight kilometres away from the volcano.

“The mountain is spewing thicker smoke than before.” 

We have to co-operate

Mt. Agung last erupted in 1963, killing about 1,600 people in one of the deadliest eruptions in a country that has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

The airport in Bali’s capital Denpasar, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has been closed, a move expected to affect tens of thousands of passengers.

“I have to make sure that the runway has no ash,” said Bali airport’s general manager Yanus Suorayogi.

While there was dismay from some tourists who were unable to return to their homes and jobs, others took events in their stride.

“What can I say? We have to co-operate because this is a natural disaster,” said Indian visitor Krisna Mustafa.

Many were told that even in the best scenario it would be several days before they could leave.

“My 7:00 am flight this morning got cancelled, just when we were about to board,” said 23-year-old Indonesian tourist Merry Handayani Tumanggor.

“Now we have to stay in Bali again – the earliest we can go is on Friday, they say.” The airport on nearby Lombok island – also a popular tourist destination east of Bali – closed on Sunday as ash from Mount Agung headed in that direction, but reopened early Monday.

The Australian government put out a travel advisory on Sunday instructing travellers to exercise a high degree of caution.

“Volcanic activity may escalate with little or no notice,” it said.”Past eruptions of Mount Agung have shown this volcano’s potential to cause significant impacts… including the potential for widespread ash fall outside the declared danger area.” 

Prayers

Dozens of Balinese Hindus took part in ceremonies near the volcano on Sunday, offering prayers in the hope of preventing an eruption.

Officials have said the activity could be a magmatic eruption – one which involves the decompression of gas and results in the spewing of ash – and advised people near the mountain to wear masks.

Indonesia is the world’s most active volcanic region. The archipelago nation with over 17,000 islands lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.

Last year, seven were killed after Mt. Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra erupted, while 16 were left dead by a Sinabung eruption in 2014.

A man was killed by his elephant in Krabi’s Khao Phanom district on Sunday.

Police said relatives found the body of Amorn Morakot, 50, covered by tree branches near the spot where he had chained his 37-year-old female elephant in Moo 4 village in Tambon Na Khao.

An autopsy showed that he had been kicked on his face and several parts of his body.

Relatives said Amron had chained his elephant at the side of a rubber plantation after he had it been pulling up logs during the day. Relatives noticed that the man had been away from his house for several hours, so they went looking for him and found his body under the branches of a tree at 8.30pm.

They believe the elephant killed him and then tried to conceal his body. They also said the elephant had once attacked and injured Amorn before.

Two people fell from an amusement park ride and were taken to a hospital Sunday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the incident took place at Wolmi Theme Park of Wolmido, Incheon, while the two were riding Crazy Crown.

The man, 22, and woman, 21, were hurt after falling from 2 to 3 meters above the ground, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

The octopus-shaped ride spins quickly and shakes roughly.

The fire service and police found a spindle that had become separated from the ride, but the exact cause of the accident has yet to be identified.

More than 60 per cent of five popular vegetables sold in local markets contain excessive levels of harmful chemical residue, according to a testing by the Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN), a non-governmental organisation working on food safety.

About 64 per cent of Chinese kale, long beans, red chili, basil leaves and cabbage samples contained chemical residue above maximum residue levels (MRL) limit, said Thai-PAN coordinator Prokchol Ousap at a press conference on Friday.

The finding came from recent testing of 150 samples of nine vegetables, which also included pennywort, climbing wattle, ivy gourd and lotus stem, as well as the six fruits: grapes, papaya, banana, coconut, pineapple and dragon fruit.

The samples were collected in August from nine markets in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Pathum Thani, Ratchaburi and Songkhla, as well as three major retailers and four supermarkets.

For the second group of four vegetables and the six fruit samples, 43 per cent and 33 per cent respectively had chemical residue exceeding the MRL limit, Prokchol said. Tests also found herbicide residue in as much as 55 per cent of the 76 vegetable and fruit samples, she said.

Herbicides detected included paraquat, which was detected in 38 samples, glyphosate in six and atrazine in four (multiple substances were found contaminating some samples).

Kingkorn Narintarakul, a representative of the NGO BioThai, which jointly conducted the tests, said the network had already submitted the findings to relevant agencies, including the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards, the Department of Agriculture, the Office of the Consumer Protection and the Consumers Protection Police Division.

The agencies had pledged to look into the problem, she said. Kingkorn added that the network also planned to sue the Department of Agriculture for failing to protect consumers by allowing the use of paraquat for an additional six years despite a proposal by the Public Health Ministry to ban the weed killer due to health hazards.