Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s disruptive cash ban is unlikely to damage his party’s performance in upcoming state polls. In fact, it might even help. Modi’s move to invalidate 86 percent of circulated currency in Asia’s third-largest economy forced millions of Indians into lengthy bank queues. It has also dented India’s world-beating growth as the country’s cash-dependent economy …

  Bloomberg China’s recent push to clean up its air is leaving some of its neighbours feeling threatened. The Asian country’s road to cleaner air has been gradual, with lead-free gasoline only becoming a requirement in 2000, almost three decades behind the US. This month, China imposed new curbs on the amount of sulfur in vehicle fuels to about a …

  BOGOR / AP Japan and Indonesia affirmed a deepening of economic and political ties during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is using a four-nation tour of Asia to underscore his government’s role in countering China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. After meeting with Abe, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the increase in Japanese …