Andrew North is a journalist based in Tbilisi and a regular commentator on Asian affairs. He has reported widely from South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

One of the more obscure casualties of the pandemic has been a decades-old, daily military parade on the India-Pakistan border where the two neighbors express their rivalry with pantomime rather than bombs and bullets.

Every sundown since 1959, troops of Indian and Pakistani soldiers, specially chosen for their giant stature, have performed what you could call a

Rupa Subramanya is a researcher and commentator.

May 25 was a historic day for the small South Asian country of Bangladesh, when its central bank approved a $200 million currency swap facility for the nearby island economy of Sri Lanka.

Last month, Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves had dropped to $4.5 billion, or about what it owes external lenders, following a year in which the country's economy had been ravaged by a sharp economic downturn caused by COVID-19. Meanwhile

BANGKOK/YANGON -- Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of Myanmar's military, met Friday with Brunei's Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof and compatriot Lim Jock Hoi, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw.

Sources in the Myanmar military told Nikkei Asia that the meeting between the military chief and the two ASEAN officials started at 2 p.m.

The details of their talks are yet to be announced, but the acceptance of the

TAIPEI -- Taiwan revised up its gross domestic product growth for the first quarter to 8.92% from a year earlier, after an initial reading of 8.16% in April.

With the island notching its fastest expansion in a decade, the government raised its full-year forecast to 5.46% despite a surge in COVID-19 infections forcing it to implement movement restrictions.

Taiwan so far has had more than 8,000 confirmed cases since May 11, with

NEW DELHI -- India's deadly second coronavirus wave is receding, with daily cases down to less than half their peak, but the central bank on Friday lopped a full percentage point off its growth forecast and an uneven vaccination campaign is raising concern.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has an ambitious plan to inoculate the entire adult population of about 940 million within the year. The number of daily doses administered nationwide, however, has fallen from as many as 4.3 million in early April to

HONG KONG -- June Fourth could be the best chance to see whether "one country, two systems" is actually working in Hong Kong.

On this day in 1989, the Chinese military violently suppressed unarmed students and civilians in Tiananmen Square, in central Beijing. The tragic event has been a taboo subject in mainland China, but Hong Kong citizens have been able to commemorate the victims every year, even after the territory's sovereignty was handed over to China from the U.K. in 1

TOKYO -- Corporate Japan is taking the vaccination baton from the government, with some companies ready to start providing shots to their employees this month, eager to secure their workplaces and get the economy moving.

Such private sector involvement is a first for Japan, but the government's inoculation efforts have been lagging. Less than 3% of the country's population is fully vaccinated, far less than in any other developed economy.

"By inoculating our employees, we aim to contribute to a faster recovery of the Japanese

MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to decide "anytime now" on the extension of a key military pact with the U.S., which has been improved following negotiations, diplomats said on Friday.

Defense officials have been holding their breath over the fate of the Visiting Forces Agreement, which eases the entry of U.S. forces into the Philippines for routine military drills.

The high-stakes decision by Duterte comes as China ramps up its presence in the disputed South China Sea. The Philippine military

TOKYO -- Nissan Motor has started taking preorders in Japan for limited editions of its first new battery electric car in a decade.

The Japanese carmaker is pinning hopes on the Ariya, its first all-electric crossover SUV, to pep up its EV range.

The Ariya "will be Nissan's flagship car," said Asako Hoshino, executive vice president, at an online news conference. "We would like to make our EV lineups more attractive, kick-starting with this brand."

Nissan said it would