Asia Daily

A regional emergency takes shape A thick blanket of wildfire smoke is spreading from Indonesia across Southeast Asia, exposing millions of people to dangerous air pollution and disrupting schools, transport and daily life. Fires have burned for weeks across Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo, where prolonged drought linked to a powerful El Niño event has left […]

India’s avocado boom moves from novelty to serious business Fifteen years ago, ripe avocados in parts of India had little commercial value. Fruit fell from trees and was often eaten by dogs, giving the crop the unappealing local nickname dog fruit. Today, the avocado is appearing in restaurant dishes, supermarket displays, skincare conversations and new […]

Beijing turns to financial firepower China is preparing a 360 billion yuan ($53.6 billion) capital injection into eight state owned banks and insurance companies as policymakers seek to protect the financial system and revive a slowing economy. The program, led by the Ministry of Finance, will provide fresh capital to three lenders and five insurers. […]

A six kilometre stretch carries most of India’s western data traffic India’s fast growing digital economy depends on a surprisingly narrow piece of infrastructure. Around Versova, a densely populated neighbourhood on Mumbai’s Arabian Sea coast, at least 13 of the country’s 18 intercontinental submarine cables come ashore within roughly six kilometres of one another. Together, […]

Fire Beneath the Forest The sky over Indonesian Borneo has turned amber and heavy, not with rain but with smoke. A thick haze has spread from burning forests and farmland across Kalimantan to Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines, disrupting daily life and sending people to hospitals with breathing problems. On the ground, the danger […]