Samsung, the global leader in mobile-phone sales, is being outflanked in the key markets of China and India by newcomers, Xiaomi and Micromax, catering to domestic tastes.

The old Sony factory in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture is up and running again. But this time it's an indoor farm that is the largest of its kind.

Graham Reid goes off the beaten trail to find seafood, a view and quiet company in Sarawak.

The Japanese consumer lender at the centre of a scandal over loans to gangsters that engulfed Mizuho Financial Group sold debt at about a fifth of the premium global companies pay, as investors search for yield.

The eastern Chinese city of Suzhou is joining a national rush for the sky with what's slated to become the world's third-tallest building.

Exclusivity and privacy is still available for a family holiday in the sun, even at bustling Phuket, finds Leanne Chamberlin.

Finance centre Hong Kong is revealing a greener side, hidden in her outlying islands and among the densely packed streets. Sophie Barclay investigates.

In just four years, Xiaomi has evolved from startup to outselling Apple in China by offering inexpensive devices packed with high-end features.

Yvonne van Dongen gets a telling off about her improper tea drinking habits from her Basil Fawlty-esque guide in the Cameron Highlands.

Bich Ngoc, who earns less than $60 a week, cobbled together four months of savings to buy the latest iPhone so she could impress her colleagues.

For years, wealthy Chinese have been transferring billions overseas to buy pricey real estate, despite their country's currency restrictions. How are they doing it?

Travel back in time from the war cemeteries of Gallipoli to the ancient wonders of Istanbul.

Companies in Japan are among the world's most vulnerable to cyber attacks, and threats against state entities have more than doubled since 2010 to one every 30 seconds.

The pachinko industry in Japan wants casinos, driven by attendance that has sunk more than 60 per cent since the mid-90s and an uncertain legal status.

Buyers from Greater China spent $22 billion on US homes in the past year, up 72 per cent from the same period in 2013.

Boeing predicts demand in Asia will push commercial aircraft sales to $5.2 trillion over the next 20 years.

Travelling from Chau Doc to Ho Chi Minh City, Nick Redmayne encounters an optimistic country.

Japan's cultural barriers may seem immense but Sarah MacDonald finds getting to know the locals in the busy city can be easy.

Graham Reid considers the lifelines of India.

Taiwanese festivals are a dazzling frenzy of colour and noise, finds Justine Tyerman.

In the mid-1990s, Gus, a polar bear in the Central Park Zoo, alarmed visitors by compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool, sometimes for 12 hours a day.

India will offload about a quarter of its rice stockpiles and ease restrictions on selling fruit and veggies as a weak monsoon threatens crop output.

Graham Reid visits a photogenic spot that isn't quite as famous as it looks.

Hayden Donnell discovers the dangers - and exhilaration - of Sapporo Beer Garden.

Countries searching for the missing Malaysian plane have yet to agree on how to share costs, an Australian search leader said.

Two teenage cousins found hanging from a mango tree may in fact have been murdered in an honour killing by members of their own family.

After a fruitless three-month hunt for flight MH370, Australian authorities have taken the first step towards handing over search operations to a private contractor.

A travel insurer has warned tourists about the risk of drinking arak, a locally made alcohol in Bali.

A British woman sailing near Indonesia at the time MH370 vanished says she saw a plane 'burning' and billowing smoke before it crashed.