In this Oct. 19, 2011 file photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, court officers of the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal are seen through windows during a hearing of former Khmer Rouge top leaders in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (AP file photo/ Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia)
Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal staff go on strike
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia--Cambodian translators angry that they have gone without pay for three months stopped working at the U.N.-backed genocide trial of former Khmer Rogue leaders on March 4, a new setback for an international justice effort that has been hobbled by conflicts with the Cambodian government.
Malaysian policemen check a vehicle along the main road near Lahad Datu in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Feb. 14. (AP Photo/ Bernama News Agency)
Malaysian troops sent to Borneo after police slain
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysia sent hundreds of soldiers to a Borneo state on March 4 to help neutralize armed Filipino intruders who have killed eight police officers in the country's bloodiest security emergency in years.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, left, shakes hands with South Korean president-elect Park Geun-hye during their meeting in Seoul on Jan. 29. (AP Photo)
Myanmar opposition party to hold party congress
YANGON, Myanmar--In another sign of political reform and reconciliation in Myanmar, the country's biggest party led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hold its first-ever congress in the country's former capital this week.
A Malaysian police commando stands guard near the area where the stand-off with Filipino gunmen took place in Tanduo village, Lahad Datu, Sabab, Malaysia on March 3. (AP Photo)
Violence spreads in Borneo as 5 Malaysian police killed
LAHAD DATU, Malaysia--Gunmen have killed five policemen in Malaysia's Sabah state where members of an armed faction from the Philippines have been facing off with security forces as they stake an ancient claim to the remote corner of Borneo island.
Vietnam's leaders sought to boost their flagging legitimacy by asking the public for suggestions on constitutional reform. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Critics pile on Vietnam government in rare debate
HANOI, Vietnam--Vietnam's leaders sought to boost their flagging legitimacy by asking the public for suggestions on constitutional reform. What they got instead was rare open criticism of one-party rule, a fired journalist turned poster boy for dissent, and another lesson on how the Internet has changed the rules of governance.
Police investigators search the well in Murmadi village where the bodies of three young sisters were found. (Makoto Igarashi)
India reeling after rape and murder of 3 young sisters
MURMADI, India--India is in uproar over the brutal rape and murder of three young sisters just weeks after a high-profile case of gang rape in New Delhi left a college student dead and the country in shock.
A woman teaches schoolgirls about menstruation, in Haryana state, India, on Jan. 22. The initiative is organized by Unicharm Corp. (Provided by Unicharm Corp.)
Unicharm educates, empowers women overseas to market sanitary products
Unicharm Corp. is pushing sales of its hygiene products by sending staff to India to educate young women about dealing with menstruation and establishing a factory with an all-female workforce in Saudi Arabia.
A destroyed vehicle that belonged to a group of insurgents who were killed during an attack is left in Narathiwat province, Thailand, on Feb. 13. (AP Photo)
Thailand agrees to talks with southern Muslim rebels
KUALA LUMPUR--Thailand's government agreed on Feb. 28 to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country's south that has claimed over 5,000 lives since 2004.
Report: Sri Lanka security rape, torture Tamil detainees
NEW DELHI--Sri Lanka's security forces have used rape to torture and extract confessions from suspected Tamil separatists almost four years after the country's civil war ended, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Feb. 26.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Support for Malaysia's Najib slips as election looms
KUALA LUMPUR--Voter approval of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his ruling coalition is falling ahead of an election he must call within weeks, according to an opinion poll released on Feb. 26, highlighting the tough task he faces despite a robust economy.
Myanmar's main business association, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Win Aung, right, smiles with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez during a conference titled "U.S.-Myanmar Economic Relations: The Path Forward" at the UMFCCI office in Yangon on Feb. 25. (AP Photo)
U.S. gives banking green light to Myanmar tycoons
YANGON--Two banks owned by tycoons associated with Myanmar's former military regime will start to do business with U.S. companies and investors in the latest reward for the Southeast Asian country's rapid political transformation.
U.S. government to air-drop toxic mice on Guam snakes (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
U.S. government to air-drop toxic mice on Guam snakes
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam--Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.
Land scarce Singapore looks underground for space. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Land scarce Singapore looks underground for space
SINGAPORE --Already one of the most densely populated countries in the world, tiny land scarce Singapore is projecting its population to swell by a third over the next two decades. To accommodate the influx, its planners envisage expanding upward, outward and downward.
Vietnam has approved a broad plan to boost its economy to 2020, focusing on restructuring public investment, banks and state-owned enterprises while controlling inflation and maintaining growth. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Vietnam steps up bank, state enterprise reforms in economic roadmap
HANOI--Vietnam has approved a broad plan to boost its economy to 2020, focusing on restructuring public investment, banks and state-owned enterprises while controlling inflation and maintaining growth.
Volunteers for the Kachin Independence Army are on training in December 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
In Myanmar, answers to ethnic conflict elusive
LAWA YANG, Myanmar--Kneeling beside a line of freshly dug trenches carved like one long, open wound into a lush hillside, the rebel sergeant peered through dusty binoculars at all his troops had lost.
Citizens protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Manila on May 11, 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
UPDATE: China rejects Philippines' U.N. mediation effort
BEIJING--China said on Feb. 19 it has rejected the Philippines' attempt to seek international arbitration over conflicting claims to territory in the South China Sea.
Attracting talented workers, investment and labor from other countries, Singapore has become the wealthiest city-state in Asia. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Youth turning their backs on "Singapore Dream"
SINGAPORE--Ong Hui Juan spent nearly four years working in a British bank in Singapore, but decided to leave last year to pursue her passion of working with youth - an unusual and surprising decision in the achievement-oriented city state.
Indonesian women take part in the "One Billion Rising" campaign that calls to an end to violence against women on Feb. 14, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Women in this social media-obsessed country have been rallying, online and on the streets, against sexist comments and attacks on women. (AP Photo)
Social media gives Indonesian women new voice
JAKARTA, Indonesia--A judge being interviewed for a Supreme Court job jokes that women might enjoy rape. A local official takes a 17-year-old second wife, then quickly divorces her by text message.
Hikari Miso Co.'s product is the first fermented soybean paste to be certified "halal," religiously acceptable under Islamic law. (Provided by Hikari Miso Co.)
World's first halal miso meets Islamic law and Muslim tastes
A food manufacturer in Nagano Prefecture has produced the world's first halal-certified miso for religiously observant—and gastronomically adventurous—Muslim consumers.
Japanese officials wait to make their pitch at a machine tools trade fair held in Bangkok in November 2012. (Kohei Kondo)
Regional banks following small businesses to Southeast Asia
Taking their cue from small businesses that are their clients, regional banks across Japan are increasingly trying to establish a presence in Southeast Asia after years of sluggish demand at home.