Spotlight on Asia
A weekly analysis of news and current affairs in countries in Asia from East to West.
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India's LGBT victory cry as Supreme Court scraps Section 377 heard across continents
In this week's Spotlight on Asia, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams looks at the potential knock-on effects in South Asia and in the Indian diaspora, of the Indian Supreme Court ruling to decriminalise homosexual consensual sexual relations.15/09/201810:00 -
Journalist Shujaat Bukhari murdered as UN issues first human rights report on Kashmir
In Spotlight on Asia, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams turns to some of the main news in Asia this week, including the murder of Shujaat Bukhari, leading Kashmiri journalist and former RFI English correspondent, the UN's first report on human rights violations in Kashmir, and whither nuclear disarmement of the Korean peninsula after Kim Jung-un and Donald Trump give an historic handshake.23/06/201809:37 -
Sri Lanka faces futher debt as China pursues One Belt, One Road project
Opinion is divided for now about whether or not China's one-trillion dollar economic corridor project known as One Belt, One Road will be a plus for the countries it passes through, as Rosslyn Hyams reports.21/04/201809:57 -
South Korea's ex-President Park's fall from Blue House to jail
Spotlight on Asia, focuses on the jailing of South Korea's former president 66 year-old Park Geun Hye. Produced and presented by RFi's Rosslyn Hyams with guests John Nilsson-Wright and Noh Jung-sun.11/04/201808:28 -
China is investing in Europe, but what is it investing in?
In this week's Spotlight on Asia, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams looks at a timely report on Chinese Investment in Europe published as French president Emmanuel Macron made his first foreign trip of the year to China.15/01/201810:00 -
Laos: the fate of the Hmong
In this week's Spotlight on Asia, RFI's Jan van der Made is looking at the Hmong, a minority people that's fled, for the largest part, from their home lands to find safety and happiness in France and the United States. But some were left behind, and no one knows about their fate.27/11/201710:00 -
Dissolving democracy in Cambodia
Cambodia's supreme court this week dissolved the main, some say, only true opposition party in the country, the CNRP. Elections are slated for June 2018. Criticism of the move has been fast and furious. But Cambodia has snapped back. RFI's Rosslyn Hyams tells us more in this week's Spotlight on Asia.21/11/201710:00 -
An avant-garde Indian artist looks both forwards and back in history
Nalini Malani is an avant-garde multi-media artist from India, whose personal and national histories are keys to her work, as is her way of challenging established mores and customs.04/11/201710:00 -
Iran through the eyes of Zahra Amir Ebrahimi
Sharp and harsh, contradictions in Iranian urban society seen through the life of four characters living in Tehran, are made larger than life in a recently-released animated fiction feature film. RFI's Rosslyn Hyams meets Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, one of the actresses in Tehran Taboo, who plays a tragic, dynamic young woman who resorts to extreme action to maintain some sense of independence.01/11/201710:00 -
Feminist film unbanned in India, showing in Paris
In this week’s look at Asia, we hear about a film which had its release delayed in India for six months by the censorship board. It’s called Lipstick Under My Burkha and it screened in Paris this month at the South Asian Film Festival. Rosslyn Hyams has been talking to the film's director.10/10/201710:00 -
French researcher digs into ancient India text on good governance
In Spotlight on Asia this week, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams meets Jean-Joseph Boillot who spends his time as an academic researcher travelling between France and India.05/07/201709:58 -
Exclusive: Why Afghanistan lawmakers want more US troops
This week the US Department of Defense released a report on Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan, a week after President Donald Trump set the number of US troops deployed in the country at 8400, down from 9600 in 2016.24/06/201710:00 -
The Iranian presidential elections - do they mean anything?
On May 19, Iran held presidential elections after a month of campaign frenzy. RFI's Jan van der Made was there and and saw how democracy Iranian style put people in election frenzy, but does Rouhani's celebrated victory really mean profound change?28/05/201709:58 -
Does Jakarta's governor's exit signal a rise in religious intolerance?
Spotlight on Asia takes us to Indonesia where Jakarta's outgoing Christian governor was found guilty of blasphemy against Islam. Indonesian President Jokowi, a longtime ally of Ahok, has - wisely - avoided to making any comment on Ahok’s conviction.21/05/201709:57 -
Spotlight on Asia
This week’s Spotlight Asia brings us to Asia Pacific. Jan van der Made looks at how US president Donald Trump is getting back into the mold when it comes to Taiwan and how Vietnam is being blacklisted by an American human rights watchdog that may have ulterior motives.30/04/201709:52
Spotlight on Asia
A weekly analysis of news and current affairs in countries in Asia from East to West.