Features

The actual and theoretical values of the yen diverged in the April-June quarter. 
Datawatch

Yen selling continues despite positive real interest rates

Actual exchange rate stands at 9.6 yen lower than theoretical value

23 November 2021
Critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos handed in by owners for release in Indonesia in 2015: Experts say the exotic pet trade raises major issues regarding animal welfare, conservation and public health.
Asia Insight

COVID casts Asia's exotic pet trade in harsher light

From Thailand to Japan, health risks add to animal welfare and biodiversity concerns

23 November 2021
A startup event in Bengaluru, left, and the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai: Sensex, India’s benchmark index for public equities, is up 25% since the beginning of the year thanks to investor excitement over tech stocks. (Source photos by Ken Kobayashi and Reuters)
Market Spotlight

Venture capital funds pile into India's startup scene

Country attracts record number of investors as China's appeal dims

22 November 2021
The purpose of Chinese President Xi Jinping's new education policies is very clear: "to stop after-school training." (Source photos by AP and Getty Images)
Business Spotlight

Chinese tutoring companies struggle to reinvent themselves

After crackdown, school operators venture into clothing and farm equipment

19 November 2021
Xi Jinping is halfway to his goal of overtaking Deng Xiaoping, a leader who clashed with Xi's father and gained veneration for enriching China. (Nikkei montage/Reuters)
China up close

Analysis: Xi's need to overtake Deng poses big risk for Taiwan

Unification would cement his legacy. Does he have a timeline?

18 November 2021
In the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle 40% of the containers entering the U.S., backups have been observed since this summer, with many ships sitting offshore. (Source photo by Reuters)
Datawatch

U.S. retailers suffer shortages before holiday season

Shipping mess causing grave supply-side constraints at critical time for recovery

17 November 2021
Strict travel restrictions and Xi Jinping's national security law are forcing overseas bankers out of Hong Kong in droves.
The Big Story

So long, Hong Kong: Asia's business hub loses its luster

City's rigid quarantine rules appease mainland but risk alienating foreign bankers

17 November 2021
Should Lee Jae-myung, the ruling Democratic Party's pick, come from behind to win the presidency in March, South Korea could become the first major economy to adopt a universal basic income program.
Asia Insight

Cash for all: Lee Jae-myung's radical plan to reshape South Korea

Presidential hopeful wants universal basic income to ease economic disparities

16 November 2021
Chaerhan Salt Lake is the largest magnesium deposit bed in China. The country dominates global production of the industrial metal. 
Market Spotlight

Manufacturers rue dependence on China for supplies of magnesium

Auto companies and steelmakers reel from latest metals price spike

15 November 2021
Singapore Airlines and other Asian carriers have been hit hard by tough travel restrictions in the region.
Business Spotlight

COVID curbs leave Asian airlines lagging their U.S. peers

Loss-hit Singapore and Japan carriers pin recovery hopes on borders reopening

12 November 2021
While Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to extend his reign, he is moving to replace a symbol of friendship between his country and Japan. (Nikkei montage/CNS/Kyodo/Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: Xi's favorite Zen master holds key to Japan rapprochement

17th-century monk traveled to Edo. Now his statue may be coming home

11 November 2021
Sarath Ratanavadi, Thailand's new energy king, built his fortune via his power company, Gulf Energy. A man of mystery, he is rarely photographed and keeps his affairs private. 
The Big Story

Thailand's billionaire boom: the rise of Sarath Ratanavadi

How the energy tycoon shot to fortune in Asia's most unequal country

10 November 2021
The LDP, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, secured an "absolute stable majority" of 261 seats in the lower house in the last election. (Source photo by Nikkei)
Datawatch

Japan's LDP gains more popularity among people under 40

Ruling party still lacks traction among women and voters in big cities

9 November 2021
Indonesian President Joko Widodo resumes overseas visits in October after a nearly two-year hiatus while facing major global challenges. (Nikkei montage/Reuters/AP)
Asia Insight

Jokowi breaks out of shell to broaden Indonesia's global horizons

Can president reassert Jakarta's claim to lead the developing world?

9 November 2021
U.S. beef is sold in a supermarket in Tokyo. Rising prices for the meat have hit shoppers in Japan. (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)
Market Spotlight

Beef price surge piles pressure on restaurants and retailers

Asian demand comes up against global supply constraints

8 November 2021
A luxury condo overlooks a street in a BDD chawl, a low cost housing development by the Bombay Development Department of the British government, in Worli. (Photo by Kamlesh Pednekar)
Business Spotlight

India's financial capital Mumbai gets a makeover

Colonial-era tenements to be swept away as big property developers move in

5 November 2021
Brine pools and processing areas at a lithium mine in Chile. The country is one of the world's key producers of the material, used in EV batteries.
Datawatch

Mineral oligopoly overshadows world's drive to decarbonization

Australia, 2 others account for nearly 90% of world's lithium production

4 November 2021
Chinese President Xi Jinping is signaling compromise to a rival political faction as well as to the business world. (Source photos by AP and AFP/Jiji) 
China up close

Analysis: Xi's 'common prosperity' puts cake debate back in oven

As economy slumps, Chinese leaders ask if recipe is right

4 November 2021
A grandmother prays for her grandson, Mohammed, who is being treated for liver failure at Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul. U.S.-led sanctions and severe drought have contributed to a financial crisis in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August, plunging many Afghans into hunger and poverty.  (Photo by Paula Bronstein)
The Big Story

Afghanistan nightmare: a humanitarian crisis that threatens to dwarf all others

Following the U.S. withdrawal, desperation amid food and medicine shortages

3 November 2021
Despite Taiwan's tech-fuelled economic boom, many people on the island struggle to make ends meet.
Asia Insight

Taiwan's tech boom masks a daily struggle for the masses

Quarter of island's workforce gets by on minimum wage and cheap food

2 November 2021
China's CSI 300 Index rose 0.9% in October, its second consecutive rise after three months of declines. (Source photo by AP and Reuters)
Market Spotlight

Foreign investors tiptoe back into Chinese stocks

Alarm over Xi's regulatory crackdown gives way to fear of missing out

1 November 2021
Global investors will have access to one of Southeast Asia's biggest tech players when Grab lists in the U.S. this year. (Source photos by Ken Kobayashi and Getty Images)
Business Spotlight

What Singapore's Grab brings to global investors with U.S. listing

Superapp emerges as alternative investment vehicle amid China tech crackdown

29 October 2021
Xi Jinping is betting that he can start reforming China's property market now and be able to chalk it up as an achievement at next year's party national congress. (Source photos by AP and Reuters) 
China up close

Analysis: Xi's new tax threatens China's invincible housing market

Only those who understood politics knew they had to sell

28 October 2021
Companies in Japan are borrowing more but earning less, setting up for what might be a tsunami of defaults.
Datawatch

COVID pushes debt at small Japanese companies to 10-year high

Bankruptcies feared on the rise as grace period for loans to end in 2022

27 October 2021
A farmer tends vegetables in a field near a coal-fired power plant in China's Anhui Province. As the U.S. and EU continue to phase out coal-fired power generation to curb climate change, Asia's share of global coal consumption has doubled in the last 20 years. 
The Big Story

Asia's self-destructive coal addiction

Burning coal is a dirty and expensive habit, so why can't Asia quit?

27 October 2021