Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964. Corruption, population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, and HIV/AIDS pose major problems for the country.

Estimates have to take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death ra...

Japan's prime minister touched off a diplomatic firestorm in Asia on Monday by visiting a shrine to World War II dead that Japan's neighbors say symbolizes the nation's brutal, militaristic past.

South Korea and China acted swiftly after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit. South Korea scrapped talks for a summit in December, ending a string of annual "shuttle" summits between l...

TOKYO - Japan's prime minister touched off a diplomatic firestorm in Asia on Monday by visiting a shrine to World War II dead that Japan's neighbors say symbolizes the nation's brutal, militaristic past.

South Korea and China acted swiftly after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit. South Korea scrapped talks for a summit in December, ending a string of annual "shuttle" summits be...

The topics such as economic development, management and overall povertyreduction are serious ones and should be addressed as such. Any politically motivateddiscussions on these issues either by an academic or a politician at a seminar wouldalways end up either in polemics or partisan conclusions. The seminar on poverty reductionorganized by the main opposition political party Awami League the o...

ANOTHER Thursday night in Mumbai, another celebrity-packed crowd at the Olive Bar and Kitchen. The model-turned-actress Amrita Arora was there, along with her sister, Malaika Arora Khan, the spicy sex symbol of Bollywood. Nearby, the prodigal founder of Hotmail, Sabeer Bhatia, was holding court with several pretty young things in hip-hugging jeans and stiletto heels. Then all heads turned when ...

TOKYO — In a region where history remains unresolved, the fight over the past is often a fight over the future. Seldom does it crystallize as perfectly as it did last week, in the biggest anti-Japan protests in China since the two countries re-established relations in 1972. Oddly, to Westerners at least, the focus of Chinese fury was Japan's approval of junior high school history textboo...

Few cities have inspired better epigrammatic praise than San Francisco. Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane described it as "49 square miles surrounded by reality." John Steinbeck claimed the city was "a golden handcuff with the key thrown away." And H. L. Mencken wrote that, upon arrival, he was immediately thrilled by the "subtle but unmistakable sense of escape from the United States."