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[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 08:23 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 09:23 UK
Leading Asian magazine to close
One of Asia's leading print publications, the Far Eastern Economic Review, is to be closed in December.
By Vaudine England
BBC News, Hong Kong

Dow Jones, now owned by News Corporation, had made the once cult-like news weekly into a monthly opinion magazine.

But the company said the continued loss of readers and advertising revenues made its existence unsustainable.

The closure of the magazine, founded in 1946, marks the end of an era for challenging journalism in Asia.

The Far Eastern Economic Review grew from a few black and white pages in the 1940s, into a bulky, weekly, must-read across Asia by the 1980s.

The region's many authoritarian governments took to blacking out pages or banning the magazine outright.

But the Review insisted on independent reporting and chose content over revenue on many occasions.

It prided itself on original journalism, challenging the powers that be, asking the questions many living in Asia either would not or could not ask, and had correspondents in almost every Asian capital.
But by the 1990s it faced new competition, and when Dow Jones took control of the magazine, efforts to introduce more lifestyle features sparked protests from Review loyalists - as did its decision to make it into a monthly rather than a weekly title.

Now the company says it will close completely so it can focus on core markets, expand online content in several languages and strengthen the Wall Street Journal in Asia.

Many of the region's greatest names in reporting made their mark in the pages of the Review - from the legendary Richard Hughes of Korean War fame, to Nate Thayer, the journalist who found Cambodia's Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:39 GMT, Monday, 21 September 2009 12:39 UK
One-in-four Japan women 'elderly'
One-quarter of Japanese women are aged 65 or over, official figures indicate, highlighting fears of a looming demographic crisis in the country.

According to government estimates, more than 16 million Japanese women have reached 65, the highest number since records began in 1950.

Nearly one-fifth of men are 65 or older, meaning elderly people account for 22.7% of the population.

Japan now has 28.98m elderly (those 65 or older according to the World Health Organization) out of its population of 127m - 800,000 more than a year ago.

With one of the world's oldest populations, many young people have put off having families because of the costs.

The shrinking ratio of workers in the population will also face a higher tax burden as healthcare and pension costs rise.

The new government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has promised allowances for couples who have children.

But Japan has traditionally resisted immigration in order to bring more working age people into the country.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 06:10 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 07:10 UK
S Korea 'grand bargain' for North
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has offered North Korea a "grand bargain" - giving up its nuclear plans for aid and security guarantees.

"This is the only way for North Korea to ensure its own survival," Mr Lee said.