World

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reforming Japan’s economy. Strong growth for this quarter has corroborated his “Abenomics” strategy, which also has nationalistic motives.

The Pakistani election commission says it has received over hundred complaints of rigging and irregularities in the May 11 parliamentary elections. The EU election monitors have also confirmed irregularities in the vote.

The sudden reduction in aggressive rhetoric and actions by North Korea has led to suggestions that Pyongyang has realized it has pushed its only ally in the region to the brink of severing its friendship.

The Bundeswehr is packing up and withdrawing from Afghanistan. Threatened by Taliban and unemployment, local Afghan employees feel abandoned and fear for their safety.

Tokyo has rebuffed an effort by Beijing to claim sovereignty over more than 100 Okinawa islands, although some analysts are warning that this is merely the latest gambit by China to seize Japanese territory by force.

Srekor village has stood on the banks of the Se San River in northeastern Cambodia for generations. In a few years it will be gone, submerged along with more than 300 square kilometers of farmland and forest.

The Bangladeshi Islamist group Hefajat-e-Islam has demanded stricter blasphemy laws and the segregation of sexes in public. It is bringing followers onto the streets to push the agenda of a more Islamic Bangladesh.

The recruitment of child soldiers in India appears to be rampant, with hundreds of children involved in armed conflicts. A report notes that children are used extensively by insurgents and, at times, the state.

An opposition politician has told DW that the German government has approved the sale of 164 tanks to Indonesia. The country joins Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on a contentious new export list.

The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by 10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry.

With obesity on the rise, India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing centers in the billion-dollar global market for stomach-shrinking, or bariatric surgery.

Following a string of deadly incidents in Bangladesh’s garment industry, German sports gear maker Adidas is encouraging workers in the factories of its Asian suppliers to text grievances about their working conditions.

As Cambodia's most visible female politician, Mu Sochua is a leader in the fight for democratic reform and women's rights, although both issues are looked at with skepticism in this male-dominated society.

Nearly a decade after 'American Idol' became one of the first reality TV shows to be remade internationally, Asian production companies are beginning to sell television formats back to the West.

The plight of Afghan refugees is known, but less familiar are the dissidents and victims of civil war who have sought refuge in Afghanistan although the war-torn country has no asylum law as yet.