Earthquake Prediction

The Nankai Trough extends for hundred of kilometers parallel with the Japanese coast, off heavily populated areas south of Tokyo. A new report has issued a chilling warning of what a major quake in the trough would mean. An earthquake in the Nankai Trough could be on a scale 10 times that of the disaster that befell Tohoku in March 2011. More worryingly, experts warn that a mega-quake is overdue. A little over two years after vast stretches of northeastern Japan were laid waste by the worst natural disaster to strike Japan in living memory, killing close to 19,000 people, a 400-page study has warned that a far more serious threat lies brooding just off the coast. A report compiled by the Central Disaster Management Council, as a direct result of the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of two years ago, predicts that a magnitude-9 quake in the volatile Nankai Trough could trigger a tsunami as much as 30 meters high that could kill 320,000 people. The disaster would destroy road an...

New tax changes in New Zealand could leave overseas property investors being classes as tax residents, it is claimed.  The New Zealand Inland Revenue Department (IRD) wants to introduce new tax rules and block a loophole allowing "fly-in fly-out" workers to avoid paying income tax. Migrants buying homes in New Zealand may also be considered tax residents under the proposals, according to a report in the Herald newspaper.  At present, residents are taxed if they live in New Zealand for six months of the year, or have a permanent place of abode.  Under the changes, factors such as bank accounts and family ties will be given greater weight in determining if someone has a permanent place of abode. University of Auckland professor Craig Elliffe said "significant" numbers would be affected including migrants who had remained "outside the system".  "They may be recent migrants who might only come and spend a month here or less, but if they have access to ...