The Backstreet Boys may Want It that Way,but China’s ministry of culture most certainly does not.

Read the rest of this article here. (via The Mail and Guardian)

China denounced a Pentagon report that warned its military modernization could destabilize the region

Beijing and Washington have sought to rein in their quarrels this year, and a recent visit to China by US Vice President Joe Biden brought vows of cooperation and goodwill.

Read the full story here. (via Times Live)

An Indian reform activist whose protest galvanized the nation’s anger against corruption ended his 12-day hunger strike Sunday after forcing Parliament to throw its weight behind his crusade.

Seventy-four-year-old Anna Hazare accepted a cup of coconut water and honey from two children as thousands of supporters cheered him on, waving Indian flags, chanting “long live India” and singing patriotic songs.

Read the full story here (via The Guardian)

Areas surrounding Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades due to high radiation, the government warned on Saturday as it struggles to clean up after the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Japan faces the daunting task of decontaminating large areas of land around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, which is still leaking low levels of radiation nearly six months after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown.

Read the full story here (via IOL)

Voters in Singapore went to the polls Saturday in a presidential election seen as a referendum on the popularity of the Southeast Asian city-state’s ruling party.

The presidency is largely a ceremonial position in Singapore’s parliamentary government, but the election attracted four candidates, the most since Singapore began choosing its president by popular vote in 1993.

Read the full story here (via NPR)

Schools in China have been told to run more classes in calligraphy because computer use and text-messaging are ruining children’s writing style.

Younger students should have classes every week specifically in writing Chinese characters, the education ministry said.

Read the full story here (via BBC News)

Typhoon Nanmadol triggered a landslide in northern Philippines on Saturday, killing at least two children, authorities said.

The landslide buried the victims in Pangasinan province, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Read the full story here (via CNN)

Japan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced his resignation, clearing the way for the country’s sixth leader in five years

Mr Kan has been criticised for failing to show leadership after the devastating 11 March earthquake and tsunami, and ensuing nuclear crisis. Read the rest of this article here. (via BBC)

Japan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced his resignation, clearing the way for the country’s
sixth leader in five years.

Mr Kan has been criticised for failing to show leadership after the devastating 11 March earthquake and tsunami, and ensuing nuclear crisis.

Read the rest of this article here (via BBC News)

Asian stock markets were unsteady on Friday

As investors waited to see whether United States Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke would promise new steps to help the US economy ward off another recession. Read the rest of this article here. (via Mail and Guardian)

If you are living in the U.S. or Western Europe and feeling pretty bad about the miserable state of the recovery, political paralysis, and growing unease about your country’s future, remember things could be worse. You could be in Japan.

Read the rest of this article here (via Time Magazine)

It is almost impossible for evening TV viewers in Japan to avoid the gravelly voiced and impressively coiffured figure of Shinsuke Shimada.

Now, though, millions of viewers will have to find a new primetime companion after Shimada, one of the country’s best-known celebrities, was forced to resign over links to organised crime.

Read the rest of this article here. (via The Guardian)

Google Inc. may pursue technology assets to expand in Southeast Asia

“We’ll continue to innovate ourselves, but where it makes sense, we will look out for opportunities,” Julian Persaud, managing director for Google in Southeast Asia, said in a video conference from Bangkok today, without elaborating. He couldn’t immediately confirm if the U.S. company previously made an acquisition in Southeast Asia. Read the rest of this article here. (via The Washington Post)

THOUGH August 22nd was a national holiday in India, a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in the Ramlila Maidan, a public ground in central Delhi, to cheer on Anna Hazare, a populist anti-corruption crusader who has tied the government in knots.

They gathered in the dust and sunshine, some seated beneath enormous awnings,  most wearing white Gandhi caps and badges proclaiming “I am  Anna”. Dozens of television trucks lined up outside the grounds, as cable channels feverishly broadcast every moment of Mr Hazare’s hunger strike. He is poised to complete his first week without food on August 23rd.

Read the rest of this article here (via The Economist)

Anti-corruption activists and federal ministers have begun negotiations to end their deadlock over an anti-corruption bill as a 74-year-old campaigner’s hunger strike entered its ninth day Wednesday.

Anna Hazare looked weak as he spoke to tens of thousands of his supporters. He credited them with giving him the “energy” he needs to carry on with his fast to demand a powerful citizen ombudsman or Lokpal.

Read the rest of this article here (via CNN)

Surveys of industrial managers released Tuesday showed that growth could be slowing in China and Germany

raising questions about whether two of the world’s most dynamic economies could continue to underpin global output and compensate for weakness in the United States and the rest of Europe. Read the rest of this article here. (via The New York Times)

Stock markets in Asia slipped on Wednesday, as investors took in Moody’s downgrade of its rating on Japanese government debt

Neither the Japanese stock market nor the yenseemed terribly impressed by either the downgrade or Japan’s new measures on Wednesday: The Nikkei 225 stock index rose in early trading, but quickly gave up those gains to end the day down 1.1 percent at 8,629.61 points. Read the rest of this article here. (via The New York Times)

North Korea’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, is holding talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, on his first trip to Russia since 2002.

The itinerary for Mr Kim’s visit, which is expected to last about a week, has largely been kept secret.

Read the rest of this article here (via BBC News)

Artists’ songs among 100 that music websites must remove because they had not been submitted for approval.

Officials have placed the boy band’s anodyne 1990s hit on a blacklist of 100 songs that music websites must remove by 15 September, alongside hits by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Britney Spears.

Read the rest of this article here (via The Guardian)