Asia

World News

Pakistani Cafe Is Oasis In Desert Of Civil Discourse

9:59am January 05, 2013

by Dina Temple-Raston

Pakistan's Second Floor cafe is listed in a local Karachi social blog as one of the coolest cafes in town. Since it opened its doors five years ago, it has become a haven in a city more known for its violence than its civil discourse.

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Under Pressure, India Fast-Tracks Gang-Rape Case

9:55am January 04, 2013

by Julie McCarthy

Demonstrations in India continued for a second straight day after a young woman who was gang-raped on a public bus died of her injuries over the weekend. Police are awaiting forensic reports that would establish the presence of the men inside the bus that the young woman boarded with her companion, who was also brutally beaten in the attack.

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In China, Yellow Is The New Red

7:38am January 03, 2013

Chinese authorities have outlawed blowing through a yellow light at an intersection. The change has prompted vocal protest — even at the official Chinese news agency.

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Baloch has been the most powerful figure in Karachi's Lyari neighborhood since 2009. His armed men control the area, and police stay away. He's shown here at his home.

World News

The Tony Soprano Of Karachi: Gangster Or Politician?

7:56pm January 02, 2013

by Dina Temple-Raston

Gangsters in Karachi are a little different from the American variety. They often control armed groups linked to political parties. Uzair Baloch is known as the don of Karachi's Lyari slum. But ask him if he's a gangster, and he'll laugh. He says he's a politician and a social worker.

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Brewing Tension, Perhaps More Human Rights In Asia

5:55pm December 30, 2012

James Fallows of The Atlantic, breaks down the controversy as he joins host Jacki Lyden for a look ahead at Asia 2013. He looks at economic friction between China and the U.S., human rights and the China-Japan dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

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Women shop and trade at a market in Razon city, northeast of Pyongyang, in September. Most private trading, which is the only source of income for almost half of North Korean families, is done by women.

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Out Of Desperation, North Korean Women Become Breadwinners

5:06pm December 28, 2012

by Louisa Lim

In North Korea, profound social change is happening beyond the view of the outside world. The pressure of national ideology has forced women to become the primary breadwinners in many households — dramatically redrawing gender roles in the process.

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Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo fields reporters' questions after meeting with residents of a Jakarta slum. Recent polls say Widodo is currently the most popular choice for Indonesia's president in 2014.

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Jakarta's New Governor Seen As A Rising Star

7:24pm December 26, 2012

by Anthony Kuhn

Most Indonesian leaders have been generals or bureaucrats who came to power by building patronage networks, not by providing services to citizens. But Jakarta's new governor, who has been in office only a few months, has already won widespread popular support.

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Brutal Rape In India Triggers Widespread Public Anger

11:40am December 26, 2012

An update on last weekend's rape of a student in New Delhi, an incident which provoked widespread outrage, and calls for a crackdown on sexual violence in India. Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Julie McCarthy in India.

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Japan's economy has been struggling for two decades and faces some of the same problems the U.S. has. Here, a man in Tokyo passes an electronic board displaying falling global markets.

World News

Japan's Economic Woes Offer Lessons To U.S.

9:21pm December 21, 2012

by Frank Langfitt

Japan's economy was a world beater in the 1980s. But the country has now gone through two tough decades and there's no end in sight. What lessons might it hold for the U.S. as it confronts the "fiscal cliff"?

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Dr. Aun Pyae Phyo examines a baby at the Whampa malaria clinic on the Thailand-Myanmar border.

A View From The Ground: Thailand Confronts Drug-Resistant Malaria

3:16pm December 20, 2012

Global deaths from malaria have dropped sharply in the past decade, thanks in part to powerful drugs called artemisinins. But on the border between Thailand and Myanmar, doctors are starting to see cracks in artemisinin's armor. The medicine is working more slowly, and sometimes not at all.

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