Life

Students continue to wear masks, but campus life is mostly back to normal at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Education

China's Tsinghua University turns pandemic into opportunity

15-member team migrated all classes online half a month after COVID struck

3 July 2021
A selection of biryanis from Veg Gulati restaurant. (Photo courtesy of Veg Gulati restaurant)
Tea Leaves

Space travel puts spotlight on India's best-loved dishes

Astronauts to feast on biryani and khichdi when they launch next year

30 June 2021
A heaping tray of momo, or Tibetan beef dumplings. Restaurants serving this dish in Srinagar, India -- home to many Tibetan exiles -- have mushroomed in recent years. 
Life

In Kashmir, Tibetan food nourishes refugee culture

Growing popularity among locals reflects exiles’ gradual assimilation

30 June 2021
Outgoing President Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III (right) meets with his successor President Rodrigo Duterte at the Malacanang Palace on Jun. 30, 2016. (File photo by Getty Images)
Obituaries

Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino was the transitional leader Filipinos needed

Former president left the country more stable, prosperous and democratic

28 June 2021
The National University of Singapore took a proactive approach to keep COVID-19 off campus, monitoring where students are with Wi-Fi and a smartphone app, for example.
Education

Singapore university keeps COVID at bay with tech and discipline

School maintains on-campus classes with zoning rules and sewage checks

27 June 2021
From Mao Zedong through Xi Jinping, China's Communist Party leaders have had a lot on their plate in trying to maintain the legitimacy of their rule.
Life

The Chinese Communist Party at 100: What's old is new again

History suggests the party will soon face another existential crisis

27 June 2021
Haruki Murakami, right, who serves as the DJ for the radio program "Murakami Radio," and musician Miu Sakamoto. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo FM)
Arts

Haruki Murakami on life as a radio DJ

Japanese author believes COVID has made his fiction even more relevant

26 June 2021
Single-story row-house, Higashimukojima. Window baffles and hinged fanlight provide privacy and ventilation. This structure is in disrepair yet somehow fits organically with the neighborhood and the newer but still modest small homes around it. Many similar old residences are fixed up and carry on. The car park in the background was likely another house, with the landowner waiting for the right conditions to build again.
Life

Tokyo: Views from the other side

Photographs highlight change and disappearing tradition in 'lower city' of a seething metropolis

24 June 2021
Shlomi Bonet on his rural property with the two halves of the "mystery" tombstone. (All photos by Ian Neubauer) 
Tea Leaves

A broken old gravestone may tell a desperate tale

Mystery tombstone could suggest posthumous social shaming across the ages

23 June 2021
Sunset at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory in the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran, New South Wales. (Photo by Filippo Rivetti, courtesy of Destination NSW)
Life

Australia's first 'dark sky park' draws in stargazers

Astronomy in focus atop the Warrumbungle mountains

23 June 2021
"Technique is of course important, but guests come back for an experience that feels like a comforting embrace," says Daniel Calvert, executive chef at SEZANNE at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi which is scheduled to open on July 1. (Photo courtesy of Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi)
Life

Daniel Calvert brings a fresh perspective to Four Seasons Tokyo

Flagship restaurant SEZANNE mixes elegance with comfort and warmth

22 June 2021
Fabrics dyed using traditional techniques hang to dry at a dyehouse in Sichuan Province, China. (Courtesy of Liu Yan)
Life

Rediscovering 'tipsy cheek' and other forgotten Chinese colors

Hues of ancient times possessed a poetry sadly missing in today's Pantone world

19 June 2021
Australia's latest mouse plague is wreaking social and economic havoc in New South Wales, the country's most populous state. (Photo courtesy of CSIRO)
Life

Australia's mouse plague highlights low-tech responses in high-tech era

Infestation brings despair to farmers but deadly chemical solution may be poisoned chalice

17 June 2021
A conversation between a mother and daughter about online trolls who are "Bhakkua" meaning Supreme Fool. (All photos courtesy of The Gaali Project)
Tea Leaves

No swearing please, we're Indian (women)

Insults are okay, but sexism and bigotry are not, language campaigners say

16 June 2021
Katsuhiko Kaneko capitalizes on his years in the restaurant industry to add unique features to his "minshuku" business and self-sufficient lifestyle. He and his partner, Yuka Abe, have the luxury of relishing hand-made food every day. (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)
Life

COVID brings self-sufficient living back into spotlight

More young Japanese enjoy easygoing agricultural lifestyles

13 June 2021
Fifteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and 15 years after his first visit, writer and photographer Ian Lloyd Neubauer returned to the Balinese tourist town of Ubud to see how it has fared.  
Life

In Ubud: not much to eat, lots of prayer, no love

Once bursting with tourists, Bali's spiritual capital looks like a ghost town

12 June 2021
An abandoned home with an ocean view, Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture. In Kushimoto, more than one out of four houses are vacant. (Photo by Thomas Shomaker)
Life

As Japan's empty homes multiply, its laws are slowly catching up

Unclaimed land could swell to the size of Hokkaido by 2040 if left unchecked

11 June 2021
Monks participate in a mass-ordination ceremony at Wat Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok. The temple is home to the controversial Dhammakaya Buddhist sect, the subject of a gripping documentary by filmmaker Nottapon Boonprakob. (Photo by Ron Gluckman)
Life

Documentary gives Thais rare glimpse into controversial sect

Censors unexpectedly lift ban on film about Buddhist leader and followers

9 June 2021
Wherever you go in Japan, such as here, near Tokyo's Nakameguro Station, at any given moment, someone, somewhere is delivering something to somebody. (All photos by Edward M. Gomez)
Tea Leaves

In Japan, transport companies really do deliver

As online shopping booms, couriers seem to be everywhere, all the time

9 June 2021
An art collective called teamLab offers a combined sauna and exhibition experience costing up to $52 for 100 minutes. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Life

Tokyo's luxury saunas offer COVID-stressed populace a warm haven

Hot bath buffs splurge on safety and comfort amid pandemic fears

6 June 2021
A completely natural backdrop to the garden of Tesso-en in Gujo Hachiman. (Photo by Stephen Mansfield)
Life

Japan's gardens of repose offer solace in pandemic times

These well-designed spaces can leave us feeling restored and reinvigorated

5 June 2021
Left: Amuse-bouche, from the kitchen of Vicky Lau's Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong. Right: "I love making things with my hands, like ceramics. I love all of that," says Lau. "Today you don't get a lot of that because so much is factory made. But food is still one of the things that have to be crafted by hand." (Photos courtesy of Vicky Lau)
Life

Vicky Lau wants to watch you eat

Already a trailblazer, the Hong Kong chef is eager to push more boundaries

2 June 2021
Controversial guru Baba Ramdev was forced to withdraw comments last week that modern medicine was largely to blame for India's COVID-19 deaths. He is facing a $140 million lawsuit brought by the Indian Medical Association.
Life

Has India's most influential guru finally gone too far?

Claims that modern medicine to blame for COVID deaths ignites a fierce backlash

30 May 2021
The liquor section of an Istanbul grocery store is cordoned off during a recent three-week lockdown.
Politics

Turkey clamps down on alcohol as Erdogan pushes Islamist agenda

COVID-19 ban on liquor sales seen as a ploy to reverse 100-year-old secularism

29 May 2021
Richard Sandler inspects organic vegetables grown for his guests at his resorts at Khao Sok, in southern Thailand. (Courtesy of Marius Herrmann)
Life

Quiet achiever 'greens' Thailand's unsustainable travel industry

Ecotourism pioneer Richard Sandler's resorts show how to reduce numbers

29 May 2021