Asia

Asian states buy, sell and invest in Africa and their military dealings are growing too. The global arms trade is dominated by the United States, Western Europe and Russia, but...

Asia’s navies are planning tougher action to combat the menace of piracy along Somalia’s coastline and in the Red Sea region. The well-organised pirates have targeted Asian ships...

Members of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa have committed themselves towards the establishment of a multinational coastguard service to patrol the largely ungoverned seas off Africa's...

Sports and politics rhymed perfectly as the organisation of the Beijing Olympics confirmed China's global rise. And the impressive harvest of medals won by China's athletes lends credibility to claims that...

Asian companies are making headway in North Africa. In April, South Korea's Daewoo Engineering emerged as the preferential bidder on a US$650 million town project, complete with roads, sewage...

Africans depend heavily on imported food, and the World Bank estimates that world food prices rose by 58% between March 2007 and March 2008. Moreover, several important food-exporting...

The veteran environmentalist Lester Brown asked in the mid-1990s: 'Who will feed China?' The answer is that the Chinese hope to, thanks to more fertiliser, better seeds and...

A visit from North Korea's elite and reculsive leadership is rare for any region, especially Africa. On 18 March Kim Yong-nam, President of the Supreme People's Assembly and...

The pharmaceutical landscape in Africa has changed dramatically in the last decade. From a largely European import base complemented by nascent but often problematic indigenous manufacture, it is...

Debate in Europe and the United States over the power of Asia’s sovereign wealth funds has increased sharply in the wake of the current subprime mortgage crisis. Such funds, which have...

As Western governments consider placing sanctions on Kenyan leader Mwai Kibaki and his ministers for refusing to negotiate over the disputed elections, Asian states have maintained a near...