Politics

Supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif protest his 10-year prison sentence. The military is thought to have had a hand in his ouster by the Supreme Court.
14 July 2018
A boy holds a Pakistani flag in Islamabad.
International relations

China lends $1bn to Pakistan to boost foreign reserves

Islamabad's dependence on Beijing loans grows further

1 July 2018
Assam residents wait to check whether they made the first draft of the National Register of Citizens in the state's Kamrup district in January. (AFP/Jiji)
Politics

India migrants face judgment day with border state's census

Assam on edge as Modi's 2014 vow to eject 'Bangladeshi infiltrators' echoes

28 June 2018
Soybeans being loaded at a port in China's Jiangsu Province. China, the world's largest consumer of soybeans, relies on U.S. imports for up to 30% of its needs.
Trade war

Soybean showdown: China removes tariffs in Asia

Beijing touts alternatives to US, but effect may be limited

27 June 2018
AIIB President Jin Liqun says the bank looks to finance quality projects that avoid pushing countries into the "debt trap" faced by some borrowers related to Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. (Photo by Yuji Kuronuma)
Economy

No 'debt trap' with AIIB, president vows

India's Modi wants greater involvement with China-led development bank

27 June 2018
Laborers constructing a flyover in New Delhi, India in February. 
Economy

China-led AIIB to spend $3.5bn with focus on India

Bank says it is 'apolitical' and wants to connect Asia and Africa

25 June 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8.
International relations

China-led Shanghai grouping offers challenge to G-7

From North Korea to Iran, the SCO's unity contrasts with Western rancor

9 June 2018
(© Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty Images)
Asia Insight

China emerges as wild card in elections across Asia

Incumbents draw on Beijing's support as opponents tap resentment of its influence

5 June 2018
Women in Bangladesh wear T-shirts and caps with messages about safe migration on International Migration Day. (Courtesy of UN Women)
17 May 2018
A jewelry shop in Peshawar: Pakistan has struggled to get the wealthy to pay income tax.
17 May 2018
Executives from the Dhaka, Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges attend Monday's signing ceremony in Bangladesh. Chinese investors may secure funding more easily for special economic zones that Beijing is building in Bangladesh. (Photo by Yuji Kuronuma)
17 May 2018
The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges teamed to buy a 25% stake in Bangladesh's main bourse. They also will provide $37 million in technical support. (Photo by A.Z.M. Anas)
International relations

China's Belt and Road builds trail of stakes in Asian bourses

Shanghai-Shenzhen group beats Indian bid for share of Bangladesh's main exchange

15 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
Women in Bangladesh wear T-shirts and caps with messages about safe migration on International Migration Day. (Courtesy of UN Women)
Life

Concerns rise over Bangladeshi female migrant workers

Regulating informal village 'middlemen' could help to end abuses

8 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
Rohingya refugee children playing at the Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Politics

Bangladesh drugs gangs exploit Rohingya refugees

Prices for meth-based 'Yaba' pills have plunged, fueling greater use

5 May 2018
Young men practice cricket strokes at the Royal College Indoor Nets in Colombo. (Photo by Rajpal Abeynayake)
3 May 2018
Young men practice cricket strokes at the Royal College Indoor Nets in Colombo. (Photo by Rajpal Abeynayake)
Tea Leaves

Sri Lanka weighs colonial ballast

Is it better to preserve and build on historical legacy or destroy it?

3 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
Dominant influence of Facebook and other internet platforms make it necessary to treat them like public utilities.
Opinion

Facebook controversy raises wrong questions

Key problem isn't data abuse, but social media's dominance, including in Asia

25 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