Chinese firms owned 63% of wind capacity additions in 2017
Eleven Chinese companies controlled 63% of the wind capacity additions market in 2017, putting China at the lead of the global wind asset market again…
Vietnam is getting old before it gets rich
AS DAWN BREAKS in Hanoi the botanical gardens start to fill up. Hundreds of old people come every morning to exercise before the tropical heat makes s…
Uzbekistan tries to end the use of forced labour in the cotton fields
IN SOME WAYS, there is nothing surprising about the videos that have been doing the rounds on social media in Uzbekistan. In one, farmers and local officials in a district near Tashkent, the capital, were made to stand in a watery ditch, heads bowed,…
Japan is both obsessed with and resistant to robots
HOTEL RECEPTIONISTS are rarely this intimidating. Yellow eyes glare as the room number is snarled through razor-sharp teeth. The mechanical T-Rex behi…
New Zealand agonises about Chinese meddling
“WE ARE FREE from political interference,” protests New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. A scandal in the National Party, the main opposition…
Japan pampers its pets like nowhere else
print-edition iconPrint edition | AsiaNov 3rd 2018 | TOKYOA FEW LAPS of the pool can help prevent diseases in later life, stave off obesity and maintain ageing joints—for dogs as well as humans, claims Wanwan (“Woof-woof”) Fitness, a sports club for…
How 500 Yemeni refugees in a Korean resort sparked protests
“DEPORT FAKE refugees”, read the signs held up by protesters in central Seoul in late October. The object of their ire was a group of 500-odd Yemenis …
The European Union threatens the mainstay of Cambodia’s economy
FROM STITCHING sequins to printing logos, making clothes can be a delicate, fiddly process. Even so, Cambodian factories swiftly fulfil huge orders pl…
New Caledonia holds a referendum on independence
MICHEL ROCARD, a former French prime minister, once described the peace deal he brokered in New Caledonia in 1988 as a “bet on intelligence”. A referendum on November 4th will reveal whether the gamble has paid off. The small Pacific territory’s long…
Sri Lanka’s president installs his arch-enemy as prime minister
FIRST TO GO was the navy honour guard, in crisp uniforms with brass buttons. Then the maintenance staff departed, followed by the cooks and gardeners …