Economy

The Bangladeshi government is promoting the launch of the country's first satellite, to be controlled from a ground station in Joydebpur, north of Dhaka, as a milestone ahead of national elections. (Photo by Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Economy

Bangladesh to join space age amid skepticism about costs

Government hopes satellite launch will help image ahead of elections

10 May 2018
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Oli during a ceremonial reception for the latter in New Delhi on April 7.
International relations

China's specter looms over Modi's Nepal visit

Indian PM faces diplomatic hurdles but could win votes back home

10 May 2018
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visits the Colombo Port City construction site on Jan. 2.
10 May 2018
Pakistan's government wants to make paying income tax a new test of patriotism. (Getty Images)
Economy

Pakistan promotes tax amnesty as it prepares to borrow abroad

Curbing evasion critical to combating money laundering and boosting revenue collection

7 May 2018
With his country's currency having lost nearly 20% of its value against the dollar since 2015, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visits a Chinese-funded reclamation project in Colombo in January.
Most read in 2018

Sri Lanka's currency suffers as debt trap deepens

China-financed infrastructure projects put country in vicious cycle

29 April 2018
A worker harvests sugarcane in a field in Thailand.
Politics

Thailand, Brazil, Australia join up to halt sugar exports from India and Pakistan

Export subsidies leading to price pressure will be raised at GSA meeting next month

28 April 2018
A new railway connecting Iran's Astara with Azerbaijan, which opened in late March, is a key link along the International North-South Transport Corridor. (© Nikkei montage)
26 April 2018
A new railway connecting Iran's Astara with Azerbaijan, which opened in late March, is a key link along the International North-South Transport Corridor. (© Nikkei montage)
Asia Insight

India and China jostle for influence in Iran and Central Asia

New Delhi's 7,000km transport corridor cuts across Beijing's Belt and Road

24 April 2018
With a big trade deficit between China and India, New Delhi is uncomfortable about Beijing using Nepal as a corridor to funnel more cheap goods in its direction. (Getty Images)
International relations

New Delhi wary of Beijing's India-Nepal-China corridor plan

India likely to object to China's one-way trans-Himalayan export traffic

20 April 2018
Rohingya refugees queue for housing materials, such as bamboo poles and plastic sheets. (Photo by Takaki Kashiwabara)
19 April 2018
Will this robot steal your job?
19 April 2018
Children draw Myanmar flags at a school in a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, southeastern Bangladesh.
Economy

Economies begin to flourish at Rohingya refugee camps

Steady salaries and supplies create 'comfort' that could impede repatriation

15 April 2018
A man rides his motor bike in New Delhi. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Companies

Honda eyes top slot in India's two-wheeler market

Local unit chief wants to cement country's position as export hub

14 April 2018
A recent ADB report says, "The anxiety over automation is overblown."
Economy

Automation not a threat to Asian workers, says ADB

Chief economist says new trade pacts will offset impact of US-China tariff fight

12 April 2018
Can it do your job?
Opinion

Robots threaten Asian jobs

Automation risks hitting the region's low-skill industrial posts

6 April 2018
A Chinese construction worker at the site of a Chinese-backed hotel complex in Colombo in October 2015
The Big Story

Is China's Belt and Road working? A progress report from eight countries

Beijing's infrastructure push clouded by project delays and mounting debt

28 March 2018
Massive traffic jams like this are a daily occurrence in Jakarta. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Economy

Only bigger public investment can ease Asia's infrastructure shortages

Private funding is too small to close the gap in transport, energy and telecoms

27 March 2018
While foreign buyers have pressured Bangladeshi companies to stop using underaged workers in apparel factories, local toy factories target the domestic market. (Photo by Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Economy

Bangladesh replaces Chinese toys with local products

Domestic manufacturing surges to meet rising demand and cultural tastes

21 March 2018
Sri Lanka's southern port of Hambantota was leased to China in 2017 to ease the country's debt servicing burden. (Photo by Yuji Kuronuma) 
International relations

Sri Lanka's silent port reveals China's ever tighter grip

Attempts at fiscal discipline strengthen Beijing's hand

14 March 2018
Soldiers of Sri Lanka's Special Task Force walk past damaged houses after a clash between two communities in Kandy district, Sri Lanka on March 8, 2018.
Politics

Buddhist mobs threaten Sri Lanka's fragile ethnic peace

State of emergency declared over anti-Muslim violence

11 March 2018
Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli
International relations

China and India court new Nepali leader

Railways seen to be next area of contention for superpowers

8 March 2018
A woman shows her finger after voting in national elections in the Philippines. The Southeast Asian nation ranks above the global average in women in parliament.
Politics

Once a world leader, Asia now trails in women lawmakers

Philippines, Laos and China among best in terms of females in parliament

8 March 2018
A Pakistani official hoists a national flag during the country's Independence Day. (Getty Images)
International relations

'Gray-listing' pushes Pakistan further into China's orbit

Watchdog's move to sap South Asian nation of non-China cash

6 March 2018
Japan's newborns had the lowest mortality among the 184 countries ranked by UNICEF.
International relations

Japan the safest place to give birth: UNICEF

New report calls for universal health coverage to lower infant mortality

21 February 2018
People walk past the Dhaka Stock Exchange in the Bangladeshi capital.
Economy

China and India take battle for influence to Dhaka stock market

Bangladeshi bourse's 25% stake offer highlights regional economic rivalry

19 February 2018