Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – For decades, international investors shunned Japan’s stock market, whose meagre gains mirrored the country’s protracted economic stagnation. These days, Japanese stocks are the hottest game in town as the Nikkei 225 index rides a 34-year high. After limping through Japan’s “lost decades” following the collapse of a massive asset bubble in the 1990s, Tokyo’s benchmark index last year gained 28.2 percent, comfortably beating the...

Taipei, Taiwan – IHua Wu was born in 1976, the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac. The only mythical animal in the zodiac, which includes a rabbit, a pig and a horse, the dragon is seen as particularly auspicious. Wu is unsure whether his parents planned for him to be born that year – it was at least a pleasant surprise – but other Taiwanese parents...

About 128 million voters were registered to vote in national and state elections amid political and economic challenges. Pakistan is counting votes in a general election marred by violence by armed groups and a suspension of mobile phone services. More than 128 million people were registered to elect representatives of the National Assembly and the nation’s four provincial legislatures. The results will appear below as soon as they are available. How...