Asia Pacific

Ewha Women's University in the South Korean capital Seoul is the world's second-largest female education institute and one of the most prestigious in Asia.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, and, as elsewhere in Islam, the festival Eid al-Fitr after the privations of the month of Ramadan is a joyous day.

New Zealand has edged out Canada in a United Nations assessment of the world's most developed countries. The ranking is based on life expectancy, access to education and per capita gross national income.

The surge in development that has accompanied Burma's transition to a form of democracy after decades of military rule has led to a swift shortage of skilled labour.

Despite the Beijing government's insistence it is dealing with inequality, the gap between rich and the rest in China is worse than ever.

New Zealand welcomed 100,800 immigrants in the 12 months to the end of June, the most since 2003. At the same time departures were down 22% to 62,400 as fewer New Zealanders left for Australia looking for work.

Chinese superstition has it that girls born in the Year of the Sheep impoverish their families.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has succeeded in his third attempt to kill off the country's carbon tax. The government legislation, first introduced last November, has been approved by the Senate by 39 votes to 32.

Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor are in a tit-for-tat war over each other's cars and trucks. Singapore uses extraordinarily expensive fees of one sort or another to limit the use of vehicles, especially cars, on its cramped little island.

Thailand's military regime thinks that amid the hubbub of the political upheaval in recent years, it may have been forgotten that the country is a major manufacturing hub in Asia.