by Rashad Mammadov | 28 May 2018 | Asia, Europe, Islam, Women
A century ago, Azerbaijan declared independence, becoming the first democratic state in the Muslim world. First meeting of the parliament of the Azerbaijan Democractic Republic, 7 December 1918 (Wikimedia Commons) One century ago today, a small colony of the Russian...
by Feizal Samath | 23 May 2018 | Asia, History
We went without Coke in Sri Lanka in the 1960s. It was a simpler era, full of hope, before a civil war almost tore our society apart. Adam’s Peak in central Sri Lanka (Wikimedia Commons, by Astronomyinertia) This article is part of a series by our correspondents and...
by Nelson Graves | 16 May 2018 | Asia, Islam, Nationalism
Autocrat or nation-builder? Malaysia’s Mahathir still stirs mixed feelings even as he stuns the world by regaining power and reuniting with his nemesis. Mahathir Mohamad, left, and Anwar Ibrahim in September 1997, a year before the prime minister sacked his...
by Stuart Grudgings | 15 May 2018 | Asia, Politics, Religion
Malaysia has stunned the world with a political tremor that has reunited two foes and which bucks a trend towards authoritarianism in Southeast Asia. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, center, visits former Deputy Prime Minister and opposition leader Anwar...
by Bernard Edinger | 8 May 2018 | Asia, History, United States
I covered the fall of Saigon when South Vietnam collapsed and North Vietnamese seized the city. I now ask myself: What was the sense of it all? The author standing on the steps of the former Saigon Opera, which had been converted into the South Vietnamese National...
by News Decoder | 3 May 2018 | Asia, China, Middle East
China’s stance towards the Iran nuclear deal is rooted in three concepts: energy, its relationship with the U.S. and the North Korean nuclear issue. Foreign ministers of China, France, Germany, the European Union, Iran, Russia, Britain and the United States...
by Robert Hart | 27 Apr 2018 | Asia, History, Personal Reflections
I covered the Vietnam War as a rookie foreign correspondent in 1966 and 1967. There was death and destruction for sure, but it was not all war. Robert Hart, War zone D, Tay Ninh province, South Vietnam, August 1967(photo courtesy of the author) News-Decoder...
by David Schlesinger | 25 Apr 2018 | Asia, China
By David Schlesinger Making a huge statement about wanting to project military might, China is beginning sea trials of its first home-built aircraft carrier, the same week it conducted exercises with its first carrier, a rebuilt Soviet ship bought from Ukraine. The...
by Colin McIntyre | 19 Apr 2018 | Asia, History
I arrived in Saigon six weeks before North Vietnamese troops captured the South Vietnamese capital. Weeks that marked the end of the Vietnam War. Panicked South Vietnamese fight for space on a plane during evacuation to Saigon after the fall of Qui Nhon to North...
by News Decoder | 5 Mar 2018 | Asia, Chadwick School, North Korea, Student Posts
By Chae Lin Park An ice hockey player from North Korea and a bobsledder from South Korea joined hands to hold the Unification Flag depicting a reunited Korean peninsula at the opening ceremony of the recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The gesture...