Asia

A man counts yuan to fill red envelopes in Beijing. Many families celebrate the Lunar New Year by exchanging small envelopes filled with money.

World News

Show Me The Money In Your Lunar New Year Envelope

8:06pm April 07, 2013

by Hansi Lo Wang

Envelopes filled with money are traditionally given to children for the Lunar New Year in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian immigrant families. The married adults who usually give them out face a perennial question: How much money should I give?

Queue Listen Now

North Korea Advises Evacuation Of Embassies

11:08am April 07, 2013

The torrent of threats from North Korea continued this week. On Friday, the North Korean government advised Russia and other countries to consider evacuating their embassies in Pyongyang amid rising tension there. Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Louisa Lim with the latest.

Queue Listen Now

The Extraordinary Lives Of Ordinary North Koreans

4:55pm April 06, 2013

Amid a cascade of headline news from North Korea, often forgotten are the 24 million average citizens living under the most authoritarian regime in the world. Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times on the lives of ordinary North Koreans.

Queue Listen Now

Sriv Keng (right) and her husband, Vet Vong, dish up bowls of rice for customers at her roadside food stall, which is situated in a garment manufacturing district.

World News

New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia's Poor Find Better Homes

8:20pm April 04, 2013

by Daniel Zwerdling

An innovative new loan program in Cambodia targeting low-income residents is a throwback to the days when bankers got to know their customers — and trusted them.

Queue Listen Now

World News

On India's Trains, Seeking Safety In The Women's Compartment

8:26pm March 28, 2013

by Julie McCarthy

Like some other big cities around the world, New Delhi has train cars reserved for women only. The female riders say it offers them a secure way to commute, but they argue that the larger problem is male attitudes.

Queue Listen Now

Lost Camera In Hawaii Turns Up On Taiwanese Beach

9:18am March 28, 2013

In 2007, a young woman lost her camera scuba diving off Hawaii. It was found last week by a China Airlines employee thousands of miles away on a beach in Taiwan. China Airlines offered the owner a free ticket to come pick up the camera — the memory card still has pictures on it.

Queue Listen Now

Customers at an Internet and multimedia services store in Yangon, Myanmar. The country is working to expand and improve Internet and mobile phone networks nationwide.

World News

Google's Eric Schmidt Heads To Another Isolated Asian Nation

10:55am March 22, 2013

by Jackie Northam

Schmidt, who recently traveled to North Korea, will be the first senior executive of a major U.S. tech firm to visit Myanmar since it began political and economic reforms. Myanmar plans to vastly expand its telecom infrastructure. But sanctions remain against members of the military, many of whom hold positions in the telecom sector.

Queue Listen Now

The 12th National People's Congress holds the election for its new president at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

World News

From Police Chief To Political Office, Jobs Are For Sale In China

10:15pm March 15, 2013

by Louisa Lim

China's new president has vowed to crack down on corruption. One widespread practice involves paying bribes to get high-level positions in politics or the bureaucracy.

Queue Listen Now

Villagers gather dead pigs in Jiaxing, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Wednesday. The number of dead pigs found in Shanghai's main river had doubled in two days to more than 6,000, the government said.

Shanghai's Dead Pigs: Search For Answers Turns Up Denials

10:08pm March 14, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

The discovery of thousands of dead pigs floating in the waters around Shanghai has turned up disturbing reports: of pig dumping and the sale of meat from diseased animals among pig farmers. In the village where some of the pigs came from, we found serial denials.

Queue Listen Now

World News

North Korea's Threats Grow More Ominous

2:38pm March 14, 2013

North Korea scrapped the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, escalating fears of a preemptive nuclear attack on the U.S. Tuft University Korean studies professor Sung-Yoon Lee discusses this precarious moment for North Korea, its neighbors and the international community.

Queue Listen Now