All Asia Pacific
- Japan no longer sanctions child abduction in mixed-marriage casesTokyo lawmakers unanimously approve Hague convention to settle child custody in broken international marriages. But Japanese domestic laws and legal loopholes still need to change, say scholars.
- North Korea sends special envoy to mend relations with ChinaNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong-un dispatched a top military official to main ally Beijing, signaling that Pyongyang may be ready to swap diatribe for dialogue.
- Burmese optimistic after historic White House visitBurmese are celebrating an end to their long international isolation with the first state visit to the US by a Myanmar president in almost 50 years.
- FocusOne man's escape from Camp 14 and North KoreaOnly one prisoner born in North Korea's gulag is known to have escaped to tell his story. A Q&A with Blaine Harden, the journalist who wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk.
- FocusNorth Korea's hidden labor camps exposedA new UN panel is vowing to hold North Korea's Kim regime to 'full accountability' for decades of mass crime and murder. Will Pyongyang face ICC indictment?
- In Myanmar, a movement for Muslim and Buddhist toleranceAs Myanmar's head of state visits the US, the first such trip in more than 45 years, religious and ethnic violence are being slowly addressed back home.
- Chinese premier visits India, talks up trade and trustPremier Li Keqiang arrived this weekend in New Delhi on his first foreign trip. India has become China's biggest聽market聽for infrastructure contracts, but the two countries remain wary neighbors.
- Why did North Korea launch 6 missiles in 3 days?The launches may be more an effort to get attention and test weaponry rather than actually provoke the region, following the end of the joint South Korea-US military exercises last month.
- Cover StorySouth Korea: The little dynamo that sneaked up on the worldSouth Korea, long in the shadow of other Asian 'tiger economies,' is suddenly hip and enormously prosperous 鈥 so much so that it may have outgrown its thankless dream of reuniting with the North.
- How much do you know about Gangnam style?
Pop music sensation Psy is the first Korean solo artist to have a top-selling US single. He swept the US with his hit single 鈥Gangnam Style鈥 in 2012. He鈥檚 taught his signature horsey dance to everyone from the UN鈥檚 Ban Ki-moon to Britney Spears. But how much do you know about the artist?
- Japan's 'secret' trip to North Korea disrupts united stance against PyongyangJapan's visit to North Korea comes after broad regional agreement that Pyongyang should not be offered talks unless it displays a genuine commitment to denuclearization.
- Japanese politicians scramble to distance themselves from 'comfort women' commentsThe influential mayor of Osaka outraged China and South Korea by saying World War II sex slaves were necessary, prompting fresh doubts about Japan's willingness to acknowledge wartime aggression.
- As China's social media takes off, Beijing's censorship campaign heats upA few well-regarded intellectuals known to be critical of the Communist Party have drawn millions of followers on China's Twitter.聽
- Why Taiwan refused Philippines' apology for slain fisherman as insincereTaiwan recalled its top diplomat in Manila and announced that it was no longer accepting applications for Filipino workers, after the Philippine Coast Guard killed a fisherman last week.
- Row over slain fisherman strains pair of Pacific alliesBoth the Philippines and Taiwan are trying to look strong, contributing to the rare, quick escalation of a diplomatic scuffle that was started by an incident in a overlapping fishing zone.
- Chinese roll their eyes at local footage added to 'Iron Man 3'Chinese audiences were unimpressed by the movie's attempt to win them over by inserting a single extra scene set in China. In the future, experts say, Hollywood will have to be more innovative.
- Long troubled by school bullying, Japan now eyes zero toleranceJapanese responded to record numbers of severe bullying cases last year, prompting a national outcry and calls for legislation. But a proposed bill doesn鈥檛 address schools' intense culture of conformity, critics say.
- No backtracking on World War II apologies, Japan PM saysShinzo Abe ruled out speculation that his government might water down Japan's official apologies for aggression and the use of sex slaves during World War II. What's behind the shift in tone?
- Focus'Provoking peace' in Indonesia海角大神s and Muslims in Ambon, Indonesia, have relearned how to live together after a 1999 - 2002 war killed 5,000 people and displaced half a million.
- Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' AbbasThe coinciding visits to Beijing of the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president this week speak to China's growing interests in the Middle East.