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February 7th, 2019

Trial of the century

Najib, 1MDB and Malaysia’s war on corruption

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The Big Story

Malaysians gripped as Najib’s 1MDB hearing looms

Trial a litmus test for Mahathir’s war on corruption

Former Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak faces the first of several 1MDB-related court trials on Feb. 12, widely seen as a test of the Mahathir's government's ability to face pervasive corruption in the country.
Facing some 20 charges related to misconduct in Malaysia's 1MDB state fund, former first lady Rosmah Mansor's private hoard of luxury goods took 150 officials nearly one month to catalog.
The Big Story

Hardly 'shabby' chic: Rosmah Mansor's trial looms

Taste for Hermes and diamonds highlighted in 1MDB case

© Nikkei photo illustration
Company in focus

Apple held hostage by its Chinese puzzle

How iPhone maker's success manufactured the rise of Huawei

In his first interview since being detained on Nov.19, ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn claimed that certain people had "distorted reality" for the purpose of "getting rid of him."
Zhao's system can identify cows at an accuracy rate of 90% when the animals are feeding.
Startups

Chinese AI startup spreads facial recognition, one cow at a time

System monitors livestock health to boost productivity as labor costs rise

Go-Jek plans to use the funds it has raised to deepen market penetration in Indonesia, as well as strengthen its presence outside its home market, intensifying competition with regional rival Grab.
Startups

Go-Jek adds $1bn to war chest as Mitsubishi joins bandwagon

Mega-startups dominate Southeast Asia's fundraising as competition heats up

Yinglan Tan, Insignia Ventures Partners CEO, speaks to the Nikkei Asian Review on Jan. 17 in Singapore. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi) 
Startups

Singapore's Insignia Ventures targets 'third wave' tech innovation

Fund sets sights on talent-rich Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines

James Dyson is moving his eponymous vacuum company from the U.K. to Singapore in order to be closer to the majority of his customers. (Photo by Maho Obata)
Business trends

Dyson's HQ move boosts Singapore ambitions to be Asian hub

Experts see ripple effects reinforcing city-state's status

U.S. President Donald Trump joins Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou during a ground-breaking ceremony at the company's site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, in June 2018.
Trade war

US and China will reach trade deal soon, Trump tells Foxconn's Gou

President asks iPhone assembler to continue Wisconsin investment and offers help

Alibaba's Hangzhou campus. China's biggest e-commerce group missed analyst estimates for quarterly revenue. (Source: www.alibabagroup.com)
Companies

Alibaba growth hits 3-year low as shoppers trim big-ticket buys

Downplaying worries, CEO says Chinese consumers still 'upgrading' their lives

LG Display expects the OLED panel business to turn a full-year profit for the first time in 2019.
Companies

World's top LCD panel maker LG Display sees profit plunge 96%

Price competition drained earnings in 2018, but company expects OLED profit this year

Indian Oil's standalone net income for the quarter ended in December was 7.17 billion rupees, compared with 78.8 billion rupees in the year-earlier period.
© Illustration by Eric Chow
Asia Insight

China runs into Belt and Road barriers in South Asia

Countries try to slow Beijing's advance without provoking hostility

Farmers in the village of Qutubgarh taking part in an economic experiment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's have extracted 1,200 kg of honey since Nov. 3. (Photo by Kiran Sharma)
Economy

Modi's 'sweet revolution' points Indian farmers to honey money

Beekeeping gains pace but fair-price and direct-distribution challenges remain

Hanjin shipyard workers, joined by their families and supporters, protest in front of the Philippine labor department headquarters in Manila on Jan. 28. The workers want government support as another 3,000 layoffs loom. (Photo by Cliff Venzon)
Companies

Hanjin shipyard bankruptcy poses dilemma for Duterte

Chinese interest in strategically located Subic Bay site sets off alarm bells in Philippines

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, sits with Economic Minister Toshimitsu Motegi while discussing long-term fiscal estimates with the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.
Economy

Japan to miss 2025 fiscal target even under rosiest scenario

Government estimate hinges on optimistic growth forecasts and tighter social spending

Shoppers and tourists seen in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district on a weekend. (Photo by Koji Uema)
Economy

Japan's record expansion produces no consumption boom

Recovery buoyed by a weak yen and public spending

Former prime minister and leader of the Democrat Party Abhisit Vejjajiva campaigns in Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand. He has complained the new election rules are "trivial and overly complicated." (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)
Turbulent Thailand

Thai election campaigners confused by flurry of niggling rules

New regulations aim to keep poll clean and fair, but risk political turbulence

MiG-29 and Su-30 jet fighters from Russian aerobatic teams fly in formation over Moscow. 
Politics

Russia vies with US as it steps up arms exports to Southeast Asia

West alarmed as country overtakes Britain to become No. 2 military supplier

Japan must work proactively. (Global Newsroom via Getty Images)
Opinion

Japan can do more to manage regional security risks

Amid uncertainty about the US, China and North Korea, Tokyo can help stabilize region

Property sector needs to be watched carefully. (Imaginechina/AP)
Opinion

China's GDP numbers send out a warning

Slowdown is deeper than data shows and will dive further without a trade deal

The members of Modi's Lutyens elite includes those who can enter privileged watering holes like the Gymkhana Club. (Hindustan Times/Getty Images)
Opinion

Modi versus Lutyens

Indian prime minister's failure to win over elite highlights national divide

Will U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, be able to reach a compromise at their next summit?
The Nikkei View

It's time to fast-track a US-China trade deal

A protracted conflict could have dire global economic and geopolitical consequences

Rice samples wait to be filed in the long-term storage vault at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Philippines. (Photo by Peter Guest)
Life

Rice vault offers food security hope as world keeps warming

Philippines 'library' of seed varieties can cushion the impact of climate change

Chinese novelist Yan Ge is now transitioning to writing in English. (Photo by Lisa Whalen)
Arts

'Bean Paste' saga goes right to China's guts

Novelist Yan Ge's bawdy debut in English shows Sichuan in the raw

North Sentinel Island in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Tea Leaves

Hard choices in the Andaman Islands

The world should reconsider forced assimilation of isolated communities