Asia

One-week wonder
Bhutan vaccinated almost all adults against covid-19 in a week

Only Israel and the Seychelles have inoculated a higher share of the population

Banyan
Asia’s air bridges and travel bubbles will expand only slowly

Resuming travel between Australia and New Zealand has been hard enough

Reef madness
China tries to nick another speck in the sea from the Philippines

Whitsun Reef is three times farther from China than the Philippines

Even transience is mutating
Another species harmed by climate change: Japanese poets

The seasonal markers that all haikus must contain are out of whack

If you can’t beat them, obey them
Pakistan’s generals are ever more involved in running the country

And the prime minister seems ever more dependent on their backing

Strength without numbers
Thailand’s democracy protests are dwindling

But public displeasure with the government has not dissipated

All hail—oops!
Singapore’s prime-minister-in-waiting gives up the job

The city-state’s carefully planned leadership transition is in disarray

Indian brink
India is recording more cases of covid-19 than any other country

South Asia is becoming the hub of the pandemic

Beggars, but choosers
Myanmar’s military coup has riven the Buddhist monkhood

Some senior monks support the generals; others are resisting

In the name of God
Malaysians are fighting one another over the word “Allah”

Can anyone use it, or should only Muslims be allowed to utter it?

Banyan
ASEAN will lose relevance if it ignores the coup in Myanmar

But its authoritarian members do not want to stand up for democracy

BFFs once more
America rediscovers its alliance with Japan

The pair are getting on better than ever, with Japan taking more of the initiative