On Sunday, Radio Australia's shortwave signal to Asia will be turned off, another result the ABC says of recent government funding cuts.  Shortwave broadcasting into the Pacific will continue, but signal strenth outside Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji may be degraded.

The tournament is one of the most important cultural events this country has ever staged. It is Australia's coming out as a member of Asia.

"By promoting the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, China has injected a strong impetus to the common development in Eurasia," said Bogomolov, adding that member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization believed that China's development would bring hope for world peace and global development.

Established powers' resistance to their rising counterparts' demands for a larger role in setting the global agenda fuel tensions and disrupt the existing world order. That is precisely what has been occurring lately between China and the United States, and is the impetus for China's "Asia for the Asians" policy.

With Abe now entrenched as Japan’s most powerful leader in years, having comfortably secured another term through last weekend’s snap election, Japan’s diplomatic spats over its past misdeeds, especially when it involves South Korea, may well get worse before it gets any better. And if relations do deteriorate further, we are likely to see more American commentators urging Japan to show greater remorse for wartime actions vis-à-vis its neighbor.

American sanctions and New Cold War policy has driven these Asian countries together in association with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an alternative to NATO, and in the BRICS moves to avoid dealing with the dollar area, the IMF and World Bank austerity programs. 

In response to Maldivian government's request, China has provided emergency aid in cash and drinking water to the country, Chinese Foreign Ministry said.  China has arranged delivery of bottled water in two Chinese civil aircrafts to Male.

Uber, the San Francisco-based ride sharing company, has set up a mobile phone software development team in Amsterdam, its international headquarters.  Uber on Thursday announced that it raised another $1.2 billion in financing, which will allow it to make "substantial investments," especially in Asia.