A day before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flies into India to attend Narender Modi’s swearing-in as the next premier, Pakistan on Sunday released 151 Indian fishermen from Karachi and Hyderabad prisons as a goodwill gesture.

Inia has just voted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power in a big way, putting Narendra Modi in office as prime minister. Modi is a pragmatist, focused on economic growth and good governance. But he's also a polarizing figure, under whose watch bloody Hindu-Muslims riots occured in 2002 in Gujarat -- leading the United States to deny him a visa in 2005. Although Modi has been exonerated by the Indian legal system, his past, coupled with concerns among the Indian and global human rights community, presents challenges for U.S. engagement. But the U.S.

According to The Japan Times, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Monday that Japanese and North Korean diplomats will meet in Stockholm on May 26-28 to discuss a wide range of issues, including North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese citizens and its nuclear and ballistic missile program.The meeting is noteworthy, Clint rightly noted, mainly in that it is being held in Europe instead of Asia. The two sides usually hold their bilateral meetings in Asia, particularly China.

At the height of the Cold War, the US State Department deployed a new weapon in its fight against communism – jazz. Over a period of 20 years, it dispatched some of the greatest musicians – Dizzie Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington –to play in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and even the Soviet Union, where Benny Goodman tooted his clarinet in Red Square, in a battle for hearts and minds. The New York Times of 6 November  1955 reported on its front page: “America's secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key.” Louis Armstrong was named as “its most effective ambassador”.

Two bombs killed 10 people and wounded 70 others Friday, at a market in Kenya’s capital, while hundreds of British tourists were evacuated from the coastal resort of Mombasa after warnings of an impending attack by Islamic extremists.  President Uhuru Kenyatta, appearing at a previously planned news conference soon after the bombings, offered his condolences.  But he dismissed the tourism warnings from the U.S. and Britain that led to the evacuations, saying terrorism is a common problem and not unique to Kenya.

Cooking experts and young chefs from around the region will get a chance to shine at this year’s Dubai World Hospitality Championship (DWHC) 2014.  The second edition of the championship, set to take place between October 30 and November 3, will focus on encouraging Emiratis and Gulf citizens to showcase their cooking talents and promote their products in the market at the event.

Millions in South and Southeast Asia rely on these three wheelers -- known variously as rickshaws, tuk tuks or tricycles -- as an affordable mode of transportation.  But while beloved by many, the vehicles are also blamed for bottleneck congestion and pollution, spewing carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particle matters that become trapped inside the lungs.  As concerns over air pollution and fuel dependence grow, several Asian companies are vying to become the Tesla of motorbikes to bring zero-emission, light electric vehicles to the masses.

Li Keqiang’s four nation visit to Africa in early May, the first since he became Premier last year, was kept off the front pages by the continuing unrest in Ukraine and theputsch by the Constitutional Court in Thailand. These issues are serious, but in many ways the story of China in Africa will almost certainly have a longer and deeper impact on the world, and deserves far more attention.