Politics

A vendor sells vegetables in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Aug. 31. The country's inflation rate hit 27.3% in the month, the highest in decades.
Economy

Pakistan's IMF loan shows few signs of stopping economic slide

'Hope is not a strategy,' economist says, calling for more drastic measures

24 September 2022
Founded in the eighth century, Bhutan's Taktshang (Tiger’s lair) monastery hangs from a rock face 900 meters above a valley. Visitors from outside South Asia will need to pay a $200 daily tax to visit the country and see it. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Travel & Leisure

Bhutan reopens with $200 tourist tax in test for sustainable travel

Sky-high daily levy worries pandemic-battered tourism operators

23 September 2022
Pakistan's embattled former Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives for a court appearance in early September.
Politics

Pakistan's Imran Khan faces indictment but PM Sharif feels the heat

Ex-leader's contempt case may foil comeback, yet experts see risks for government

21 September 2022
A report by Freedom House says the Chinese Communist Party "and its proxies are using more sophisticated and coercive tactics to shape media narratives and suppress critical reporting" -- accusations Beijing rejects.
Asia Insight

China builds global media muscle to amplify its message

Study shows how country with dismal press freedom record sways reporting abroad

20 September 2022
The logo of the Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing 2019
Belt and Road

China slows foreign lending as Belt and Road problem loans triple

Sri Lanka falls into debt crisis while Pakistan is strapped for cash

20 September 2022
Rohingya refugees near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, in 2017: The South Asian country says it is clamping down on its border amid concerns that more people will try to flee Myanmar.
International relations

Bangladesh fears new Rohingya exodus from fighting in Myanmar

Dhaka stresses 'burden' of hosting refugees, says it cannot accept more

19 September 2022
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, meets Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 16.
International relations

Pakistan and China hail 'brotherhood' but IMF terms spell friction

Xi-Sharif meeting overshadowed by Islamabad's need to renegotiate power deals

17 September 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
International relations

Modi tells Putin that today is 'not an era of war'

Indian leader calls for building resilient supply chains at SCO summit

17 September 2022
Family members sit on rope beds beside their damaged house in Dera Allah Yar, Balochistan, on Aug. 25: Pakistan's floods should be a wake-up call for the world.
Opinion

Pakistan is owed reparations, not aid, by U.S. and China

Polluting countries owe debt for climate-change harms

16 September 2022
After record rain during this year's monsoon season, much of Pakistan was overwhelmed by floods in late August. These submerged buildings are in Jafferabad, Balochistan.
The Big Story

Pakistan floods drive calls for climate justice

The rift between rich, carbon-emitting countries and the vulnerable, developing world is widening

14 September 2022
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seen attending last year's G-20 summit in Rome, will play host next year.
International relations

India sets 2023 G-20 summit dates as Ukraine war haunts grouping

New Delhi to take presidency Dec. 1, hails emerging nations' 'greater voice'

13 September 2022
The meeting in Samarkand, a city on the ancient Silk Road, will mark the annual summit's first in-person meeting since 2019.
International relations

SCO summit to bring together Xi, Putin, Modi: 4 things to know

Shanghai Cooperation Organization looks to bolster global status

13 September 2022
Queen Elizabeth II passes onlookers in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 23, 1972.
International relations

Queen Elizabeth's soft power in Asia went beyond the Commonwealth

New U.K. King Charles III faces struggle to match mother's ties in region

13 September 2022
A medic checks an X-ray of a man who was wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the Russian Embassy in Kabul on Sept. 5.
Terrorism

Russia's ISIS-K problem intensifies after Kabul embassy bombing

As militants undermine Taliban, experts see rising threat to Moscow in Central Asia

13 September 2022
People pass closed meat shops in Gurugram, India, in 2018. Recent years have brought a series of temporary meat bans, pushed by right-wing Hindu groups.
Politics

'Vegetarian nationalism' poses identity crisis for India's Muslims

Temporary meat bans raise longer-term question of what it means to be Indian

10 September 2022
Fourteen countries have signed onto the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. (Photo from Katherine Tai's Twitter account)
Indo-Pacific

Indo-Pacific framework objectives take shape, but India not all in

Group's most populous member stops short of agreeing to trade 'pillar'

10 September 2022
Stream article image
International relations

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth's reign

British monarch was a visible presence in the world for over 70 years

9 September 2022
India's main rice port, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, in September 2021: The country's move is likely to fuel global concerns over food inflation, already exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
International relations

India clamps down on rice exports as global food worries grow

Top supplier aims to ease food inflation after uneven monsoons

9 September 2022
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at a civic ceremony in New Delhi during the Royal Tour of India, circa January 1961.
International relations

Legacy of decency: Asian leaders pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Monarch was frequent visitor to region during her 70-year reign

9 September 2022
Japan and India have held defense exercises together since 2012.
Indo-Pacific

Japan, India agree on closer security cooperation with eye on China

Countries push for more joint drills in 'two-plus-two' talks

9 September 2022
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, left, speaks at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. (Photo by Satsuki Kaneko)
Biden's Asia policy

Indo-Pacific ministers talk skills training, not tariffs, at U.S. gathering

1st in-person IPEF forum to cover supply chain resiliency, emergency chip reserve

9 September 2022
The Pentagon as seen from the air in Washington: Indian defense attaches can now walk freely in the building. 
Indo-Pacific

U.S., Japan step up India courtship despite its Russia juggling act

Pentagon grants escort-free access to attaches, Japan plans jet drills

8 September 2022
India's opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, center, on Sept. 5: He has embarked on a 3,500 km march billed as a "mass communication exercise."
Politics

India's Rahul Gandhi aims to regain Congress' mojo on 3,500-km walk

Attempt to connect with voters meets skepticism from analysts, Modi's BJP

8 September 2022
With an election on the horizon, many have been hoping Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would push for a breakthrough on sharing Teesta River water with India. (Nikkei montage/Getty Images)
International relations

Bangladesh PM's India trip leaves farmers thirsty for water deal

Hopes for sharing Teesta River shaken as climate change raises urgency

8 September 2022
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told Sri Lanka that Washington will support its debt restructuring effort.
Sri Lanka crisis

U.S. backs Sri Lanka's debt restructuring effort: Yellen

Treasury chief calls for all creditors to cooperate

7 September 2022