TWO recent developments in East Asia -- one in Northeast Asia and the other in Southeast Asia -- have brought to the fore some of the latent tensions in the region.

• August 12, 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently proclaimed Eurasia a Russian "sphere of exclusive interests."

• August 12, 2010

The United States is struggling to implement a strategy for Afghanistan that will improve the lives of the Afghan people and allow US troops to go home.

• August 12, 2010

On paper, the plan for the foot patrol looked perfectly safe. A stroll through a couple of villages. Introductions to a few village elders. A two-mile drive back to the guarded walls of the Afghan police headquarters.

• August 11, 2010

Updated GDF Suez, the giant Franco-Belgian utility, said Tuesday that it had agreed to take over its smaller British rival International Power in a deal where the target’s shareholders will receive £1.4 billion ($2.2 billion) in cash in a special dividend.

• August 11, 2010

Battered by bloody ethnic clashes and its second coup in five years, Kyrgyzstan is facing economic disaster, with experts warning that not even a recent pledge of international aid may be able to stave off collapse.

• August 11, 2010

Israel's defense minister has told a investigation into a deadly raid on an aid convoy to Gaza that the flotilla was a "planned provocation." The comments follow a stern defense of the raid by Israel's prime minister.

• August 11, 2010

The worst heatwave in Russian history is likely to cost the economy almost one percent of GDP, according to economists. The summer's drought, forest fires and smog will be significant factors in eroding economic growth.

• August 11, 2010