Striking street art in Shanghai, China captured through an iPhone application on January 24, 2012.
The Economist's Vijay Vaitheeswaran offers his rules for what makes innovation in the 21st century.
A view of mangrove shoots planted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others on Tarawa, an atoll in the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati, on September 4, 2011.
We now know that a number of other countries — primarily Asian nations — have gotten a lot better at education than the U.S. What are the lessons for U.S. schools?
"The family has a tough way forward in gaining popular confidence," says political analyst Yashwant Deshmukh. "However, that’s the only way they can cling to power, that is, gaining people’s confidence."
Charles K. Armstrong says a conference attended by a North Korea nuclear envoy showed the country is continuing to implement, and even accelerating negotiation efforts put in motion before the death of Kim Jong Il.
A U.S. sergeant's slaying of 16 Afghan civilians could not only stall U.S. efforts to negotiate with the Taliban, but give the group more public support ahead of U.S. combat troop withdrawal next year, according to Asia Society experts.
The Kyoto-based band's spoken-word song "humanERROR" has turned into an anthem of sorts for Japan's traditionally apolitical youth.