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A hero for the Philippines The thriller for Manila (19 November 04:09) |
| Manny Pacquiao, boxer, national hero and political wannabeA HUSH fell over the Philippines as a bell rang, eight time zones away, to start Manny Pacquiao’s title fight in Las Vegas. Th... |
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Banyan Land of Eastern promise (19 November 04:09) |
| India's membership of Asia remains primarily cartographicAN EASY but instructive way to bait an Indian economist is to credit the Chinese economy with coming to Asia’s rescue and argua... |
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Afghanistans anti-corruption drive Taming the mafia state (19 November 04:09) |
| The anti-graft pressure mounts on Hamid KarzaiIT WAS no secret what the world wanted to hear from Hamid Karzai when Afghanistan’s president was sworn in for a second term on November 1... |
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Barack Obama in Asia Scaling the Asian wall (19 November 04:09) |
| The president pays Asia the compliment of courtesy; rewards are not immediateIT TOOK Barack Obama nearly a year in office to get to East Asia. When he did, it was for an intensive nine-day o... |
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Hong Kongs deferred democracy Softly softly (19 November 04:09) |
| One man; one vote; one forlorn hope?ACCORDING to its chief executive, Donald Tsang, Hong Kong has reached another “critical juncture” in its political development. A reform propo... |
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Australias child-migration horror Better late than never (19 November 04:09) |
| Kevin Rudd says sorry for a past evilCEREMONIES in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra are typically attended by visiting royals, heads of state and other dignitaries. On November... |
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Sri Lankas retired army chief General intentions (19 November 04:09) |
| The war’s winners fall outWHEN Sarath Fonseka sought permission this month to retire as chief of Sri Lanka’s defence staff from December 1st, President Mahinda Rajapaksa replied ... |
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Australias child-migration horror Better late than never (19 November 04:09) |
| Kevin Rudd says sorry for a past evilCEREMONIES in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra are typically attended by visiting royals, heads of state and other dignitaries. On November... |
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Japans government Out of tune (12 November 04:33) |
| The Democrats’ debut has been worryingly unharmonious—and the “bond vigilantes” are starting to make groaning noises, tooYUKIO HATOYAMA, Japan’s prime minister,... |
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Banyan Barack Obamas Asian adventure (12 November 04:33) |
| The president seems better at reassuring America’s enemies than its friendsASIANS complain that when George Bush chose Iraq and terror ism as his main arenas in foreign affairs, it was... |
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Chinas state-owned enterprises Nationalisation rides again (12 November 04:33) |
| Do state firms have too much power? A case in Hebei stirs debateTHERE are so many examples of Chinese farmers enraged by industrial polluters that Hou Youliang, a 61-year-old cancer sufferer... |
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Singapore and immigration A PR problem (12 November 04:33) |
| Immigration becomes the hot political issue in a model city-stateAT CHINA’s 60th anniversary bash last month, Zhang Yuanyuan, a China-born, permanent resident of Singapore, was caught ... |
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Fiji and Oceania Coconut dictator (12 November 04:33) |
| A coup leader who is tough on the outside, softer underneathFIJI’S military strongman, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has thumped down his fist. He will restore relations with Australia ... |
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Military strategy in Afghanistan Tactical retreat (12 November 04:33) |
| NATO commanders want to withdraw from vulnerable outpostsBEARDED fighters gleefully picked through the ruins of an abandoned American base in Kamdesh, in the mountains of Nuristan in eastern... |
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Thaksin Shinawatra and Hun Sen A new way to annoy a neighbour (12 November 04:33) |
| Cambodia appoints as a government adviser Thailand’s opposition leaderSINCE last year, Cambodian and Thai troops have intermittently clashed over a disputed border temple. But now Camb... |
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Indias wretched state of Manipur Not free to starve (05 November 04:31) |
| A poet from Manipur celebrates nine years of trying to kill herselfIROM CHANU SHARMILA, 37, a poet and aspirant suicide, was this week unable to attend a cultural festival held in her honour... |
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Indonesias anti-corruption commission The gecko bites back (05 November 04:31) |
| Yudhoyono: second term, first crisisTHIS was to have been Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second honeymoon. Inaugurated for a second presidential term last month after a landslide election ... |
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Financial scandals in Thailand Getting their man (05 November 04:31) |
| Market panics, old and newIT TOOK 13 years for Thai justice to catch up with Rakesh Saxena, an Indian-born banker who fled to Canada in 1996. Once there, Mr Saxena (pictured left) dug in his... |
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Banyan Having it both ways (05 November 04:31) |
| Despite protestations to the contrary, China needs NATO to fight in AfghanistanONE day early this summer, when it was still possible to claim progress in Afghanistan, Robert Gates, America&#... |
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Afghanistans 8220re-elected8221 president Karzais tattered victory (05 November 04:31) |
| The world agrees to pretend he won; not all Afghans suspend disbeliefBRINGING Afghanistan’s disastrous presidential election to a close, ten weeks after the voting, the chairman of the... |
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Bangladesh and Myanmar Fenced in (05 November 04:31) |
| More grief for the Rohingyas“WE HAVE an excellent relationship with the soldiers on the other side,” says Khalilar Rahman, a Bangladesh Rifles commander at a remote outpost on a ... |
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Politics and the war in Sri Lanka To which victor the spoils (05 November 04:31) |
| The mysterious ambitions of Sri Lanka’s victorious army commanderNOT even six months has elapsed since the protracted war with Tamil Tiger rebels ended in a bloody climax, leading to t... |
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Banyan Himalayan histrionics (29 October 05:23) |
| Asia's two giants still cannot agree where one stops and the other beginsIF THIS is to be Asia’s century, a small prerequisite is that its two rising powers rub along together. Yet rec... |
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Japans samurai culture They need another hero (29 October 05:23) |
| Swooning over sword-wielding samurais, not sober-suited salarymenFAT, raccoon-faced, and with the severed head of one of his enemies at his feet, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Japan’s mightiest sho... |
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South-East Asian summitry Distant dreams (29 October 05:23) |
| Vague hopes of integration and messy bilateral squabblesAS USUAL at such shindigs, lofty dreams of pan-Asian economic integration got a good airing at a regional leaders’ summit held i... |
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Afghanistans bloody election An election under siege (29 October 05:23) |
| The Taliban campaign with bullets. The candidates bicker. Western doubts deepenJUST ten days before November 7th, when Afghans are due to go back to the polls to decide whether or not to re-... |
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Terrorism in Pakistan A hostile ally (29 October 05:23) |
| Clinton flies into a war zoneA VISIT to Pakistan this week by Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, was greeted in the grimmest possible fashion. A suicide-bomber exploded a c... |
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Chinas navy off Somalia Cash and carry (29 October 05:23) |
| A hijack dilemma for ChinaUNACCUSTOMED to operating far from its own shores, China’s navy is even less used to actual fighting. So news on October 19th that Somali pirates had hijacked... |
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Japans new government In that dawn (22 October 04:13) |
| The DPJ’s excitable first weeks in officeAFTER five weeks in power, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is still enjoying a honeymoon. The government’s approval rating stood at 7... |
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South Waziristan There they go again (22 October 04:13) |
| War-weary refugees hope that this time the army finishes the jobTHIS time the signs are that Pakistan’s army means business in South Waziristan. Civilians, who have fled the ground off... |
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Indonesias new cabinet Like the last lot (22 October 04:13) |
| More politicians than technocratsOPTIMISM abounded when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (pictured) was re-elected Indonesian president in July in a landslide. Analysts at home and abroad hoped he w... |
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Australias boat people Stay the bloody hell where you are (22 October 04:13) |
| The national phobia about boats from the northWHEN Kevin Rudd became Australia’s prime minister almost two years ago, many thought they had heard the last loud discords about asylum-se... |
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Afghanistans permanent election Seconds out round two (22 October 04:13) |
| Hamid Karzai is forced kicking and screaming into another electoral shamblesRARELY has an announcement by a national leader been as grudging or as awkward as Hamid Karzai’s concession ... |
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Banyan Hell on Earth (22 October 04:13) |
| The West still turns a blind eye to the world’s most brutal and systematic abuse of human rightsA SPRAWLING encampment of think-tankers, academics, hacks and policymakers earns a livin... |
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Sri Lanka and the EU Plus and minuses (22 October 04:13) |
| A blow for garment workers, but not necessarily for the governmentONE way Sri Lanka’s government has bolstered its support among the country’s ethnic-Sinhalese majority is by sto... |
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Taiwans jailed former president Looking for a loophole (22 October 04:13) |
| Did Taiwan leave its heart in San Francisco?BANGED up for life for corruption, a sentence against which he is appealing, Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president in 2000-08, faces a new inve... |
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Chinas private coalmines The pendulum swings against the pit (15 October 04:18) |
| Another attempt to control dirty and dangerous small coal-minesIN THE northern province of Shanxi, one of China’s biggest coal-producing regions, a once-booming private mining industry... |
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Banyan History wars (15 October 04:18) |
| A truce is unlikely to herald lasting peace between Japan and its neighboursJAPAN’S nearest neighbours have long been less ready than has the rest of Asia to forgive and forget the cou... |
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Thailands former prime minister Exile and the kingdom (15 October 04:18) |
| Thaksin still hankers after a triumphant homecomingMANY a political revolt has been plotted from afar. In Japan Aung San dreamed of the demise of British rule in Burma. Sun Yat-sen, the foun... |
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Japans eco-diplomacy Starry-eyed (15 October 04:18) |
| “Soft power” built on sandFOR an ocean-loving nation, Japan has an odd way of showing its affection for the sea. Out of a fear of typhoons and tsunamis, and an element of man-aga... |
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Vietnams crackdown on dissent To discourage the others (15 October 04:18) |
| New-style diplomacy trumped by old-style repressionAS A one-party state that restricts free speech and often locks up dissidents, Vietnam is not known for its promotion of civil liberties. B... |
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Banyan Shorts and all (08 October 04:17) |
| India's voters are not wild about saffron. Can the BJP become a mellower yellow?ON THE eve of India’s 2004 election the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked to have completed its evolut... |
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China North Korea and its nukes Smile please (08 October 04:17) |
| After calculated tantrums come the Dear Leader’s calculated charmsFOR spending three full days as a guest of China’s small but infuriating ally, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao presuma... |
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Afghanistans fraudulent election Disunited nations (08 October 04:17) |
| The election looks worse and worseUNITED NATIONS officials must rue the day they tried to force Peter Galbraith, number two at the UN mission in Kabul, to go quietly. Mr Galbraith, a former ... |
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Chinese history textbooks The fragility of truth (08 October 04:17) |
| History just ain’t what it used to beSCHOOL textbooks in China have a habit of bending the truth, to suit Communist Party dogma or to reinforce moral messages. Rarely does anyone chall... |
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A campaign-finance scandal in Japan Twinkle-toes in trouble (08 October 04:17) |
| The new prime minister finds himself under an uncomfortable spotlightIT WAS Saturday evening and Yukio Hatoyama, wearing a burgundy jacket and a cocky grin, was dancing with his fun-loving w... |
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Singapores sand shortage The hourglass effect (08 October 04:17) |
| Seven maids with seven mops might fail, but Singapore gets close“LOOKING for sea-sand for reclamation project in Singapore. Prompt reply is greatly appreciated.” Many such pleas ... |
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Indonesias anti-corruption commission Mr Cleans battered broom (08 October 04:17) |
| Too good for its own goodIN ITS six-year life, Indonesia’s independent Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK, has won global plaudits for its performance, much improving ... |
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Pakistans Swat valley The law in whose hands (01 October 04:34) |
| The army’s triumph over the Taliban in the valley risks turning sourTHE mayor of Swat, a pretty valley in north-west Pakistan that the army has just wrested back from the Taliban, has ... |
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America and Myanmar Re-engagement rings (01 October 04:34) |
| The new policy can hardly work worse than the old oneA NUMBER of adjectives might be applied to America’s policy towards Myanmar over the past two decades, in which it has shunned the ... |
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