Asia, Prime Minister | featured news

China said on Monday that Japan must face up to history and respect the feelings of those who were victims of wartime aggression, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an offering to a shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's former militarism.

Japan is making a sweeping shift in its monetary policy, aiming to spur inflation and get the world's third-largest economy out of a long, debilitating slump. Bowing to demands from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for more aggressive monetary easing, the Bank of Japan announced Thursday a policy overhaul intended to double the money supply and achieve a 2 percent inflation target at the "earliest possible time, with a time horizon of about two years."

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with President Obama on Friday, he will be seeking to press not one but three reset buttons. The United States has a big stake in at least two of his goals — and it’s within Obama’s power to help realize them.

India's economic growth is expected to slow to around 6%, dragged by domestic issues, but the government is focused on getting the country back on a growth path, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed on Wednesday after press reports that the mission was scheduled to begin late next year. The project would mark another step in the country's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday that the government is considering buying islands in potentially gas rich territory claimed by both Japan and China, in a move likely to anger Beijing.

A powerful politician and dozens of his followers quit Japan's ruling party on Monday and are likely to form their own rival bloc, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind, self-taught lawyer known for his outspoken opposition to China’s forced abortion and sterilization policies, has escaped from house arrest and posted a dramatic YouTube video calling on Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to investigate his case and protect his family.

Japan's prime minister ordered workers to remain at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant last March as fears mounted of a "devil's chain reaction" that would force tens of millions of people to flee Tokyo, a new investigative report shows.

Japan’s ruling party was set to pick a new leader Monday to become the country’s sixth prime minister in five years. Five candidates are running to replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is resigning after 15 months amid public criticism over his administration’s handling of the tsunami disaster and ensuing nuclear crisis as well as disgust with political infighting.