Asia Pacific

Surprisingly, perhaps, the first telephone call made by India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, after taking office at the end of last month was to his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang.

Cambodia's cabinet has approved a new five-year National Strategic Development Plan that envisages spending $26.58 billion – an average of $5.3 billion a year, until 2018. But as the entire government budget this year is only $3.

Cadbury breathed a sigh of relief last week after laboratory tests in Malaysia said the candy company's products contain no pig fat.

There are mounting predictions that China's property bubble is about to burst. “I think Chinese property is the Titanic about to crash into the iceberg, said Pan Shiyi, chairman of commercial developer SOHO China, last week.

There are concerns that international sanctions against North Korea, aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons program, could be a casualty of Pyongyang's warming relations with Japan.

Once focused primarily on resources, overseas money is now flowing into other sectors

The man likely to be Indonesia's next president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, says he wants to see more processing of the country's mineral wealth before export, and a total reform of the chaotic energy sector.

The sources of foreign investment flows are often bemusing and amusing. Cyprus is often the major source of investment in Russia, because that's where the oligarchs keep their money when things are tense at home.

The grief being felt by South Koreans over the April 16 sinking of a ferry, in which more than 300 people, most of them high school students, died, continues to have an economic impact.

Bangladesh is preparing to introduce a “green tax” to try to check pollution by industries.