ASIA Pacific Research

U.S. releases five Guantanamo detainees to Georgia, Slovakia | Reuters

  (Reuters) – The United States has released five detainees from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including the first Yemeni detainee to be resettled since 2010, officials said on Thursday.

Three of the detainees were sent to the Republic of Georgia, the U.S. military said in a statement, while two were sent to Slovakia.

Tune In: The President Addresses the Nation on Immigration Reform | The White House

Our immigration system has been broken for decades — and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law and contribute to our country.

So tomorrow night, President Obama will address the nation to lay out the executive actions he’s taking to fix our broken immigration system. You can watch…

Iraq insurgent advance slows, U.S. sends carrier to Gulf | Reuters

  (Reuters) – An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad.

As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighboring Shi’ite Iranheld out the prospect of working…

Prawns replace abalone as China property developers go down-market | Reuters

(Reuters) – The Chinese developer behind an eight-storey clubhouse with a billion-dollar view over Shanghai’s Huangphu River is turning to lower-end coffee shops and restaurants to fill the space, as a broad anti-graft campaign puts the brakes on conspicuous spending.

The state-of-the-art, steel and glass building was originally designed as a playground for China’s elite, including space to mix…

AsAm News | Berkeley launches online digital archive of Japanese American incarceration

 UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library has unveiled a new digital archive documenting the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

 The Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study Digital Archive  (hate the name, why don’t they just call it summer camp?) includes 100,000 original manuscripts.

Among those items are personal narratives never before made public.

It also includes information about a…

U.S. Treads Fine Line in Fighting Chinese Espionage – NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — By indicting members of the People’s Liberation Army’s most famous cyberwarfare operation, called Unit 61398 but known among hackers by the moniker “Comment Crew,” the Obama administration is now using the legal system to make a case it has previously confined to classified briefings: that the Chinese military leadership is behind an enormous organized campaign to steal American…

India’s Modi grapples with first challenge – filling his cabinet | Reuters

(Reuters) – India’s prime minister-to-be Narendra Modi was huddled in discussions with close aides and advisers on Sunday, finalizing the names of people to join his cabinet and grappling with the crucial decision of who will be his finance minister.

Two days after he won a thumping victory in the general election, there was little clarity about who Modi would include in his team, even in other…

U.S. warns China its actions in sea disputes are straining relations | Reuters

(Reuters) – China’s “provocative” actions in maritime disputes with its neighbors are straining ties with the United States, raising questions over how the world’s two biggest economies can work together, a senior U.S. official said.

The strong comments from Washington on Thursday come after deadly anti-China riots broke out in Vietnam in response to Chinatowing an oil rig into a part of the…

As election ends Tamil refugees are forgotten again

PUZHAL, India — As Tamil civilians were increasingly caught in the crossfire between the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the 1980s, Sasitharan and his parents followed the exodus from the Tamil-majority northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka.

Read the full story Here

In a Flourishing Queens, Prosperity Eludes Some Asian Families – NYTimes.com

By now, you may have heard the buzz about Queens. You may have marveled at the gleaming new high rises and the pricey penthouses, at the influx of young professionals and the blossoming post-recession economy.

But talk to Amy Chan, a 42-year-old waitress, and she’ll tell you the flip side of that story.

In her neighborhood in Elmhurst, many Asian families live in crowded apartments and homes, and…

A Uighur Father’s Brave Fight – NYTimes.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The last time I saw my father was on Feb. 2, 2013. We were at the international airport in Beijing, about to board a flight to America for him to spend a year as a visiting scholar at Indiana University. I was 18, and was coming along for a few weeks to help him settle in.

We had checked in and were waiting as our passports were inspected. The guards closely examined my…

Russian firms turn to Asia for finance as Western funds demur | Reuters

(Reuters) – Russian companies shut out of Western markets as a result of the Ukraine crisis are scouting the possibility of raising cash via Chinese or Singapore bonds instead, even if a large scale funding switch to Asia is likely to be a tall order.

FP’s Situation Report

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 FP’s Situation Report: State, Pentagon clash over Syria intervention

By Gordon Lubold with Nathaniel Sobel

A hawkish State Department clashes with a more circumspect Pentagon over Syria policy, but both sides agree on the need for an expanded train-and-equip program for moderates. The WSJ’s Adam Entous and Julian Barnes on Page One: “Frustrated by the stalemate in Syria,…

U.S. accuses Russian agents of stirring eastern Ukraine unrest | Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russian agents and special forces on Tuesday of stirring separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine, saying Moscow could be trying to prepare for military action as it had in Crimea.

Armed pro-Moscow protesters were still occupying Ukrainian government buildings in two cities in the largely Russian-speaking east on Tuesday, although police ended a…