Japan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world’s second-largest economy has been able to borrow cheaply from a captive bond market, feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The rocketing cost of [...]

By Kim Kyoungwha
March 10 (Bloomberg) — Asian currencies strengthened, led by South Korea’s won and the Taiwan dollar, as stock gains helped draw funds to emerging markets.

By Candice Zachariahs
March 10 (Bloomberg) — Australia’s dollar rose after touching a one-week low as rising domestic stocks revived demand for the currency. New Zealand’s dollar fell.

By Judy Chen
March 10 (Bloomberg) — China should let the yuan rise 3 percent against the dollar in 2009 to deter capital outflows and help the country make overseas acquisitions, saidWang Jian, a researcher affiliated with the nation’s top planning agency.

By Yasuhiko Seki and Ron Harui
March 10 (Bloomberg) — The yen fell for a third day against the euro before government reports that analysts say will show Japan’s recession is deepening, reducing the appeal of the currency.

By Shamim Adam and Michael Munoz
March 6 (Bloomberg) — Malaysia’s exports fell the most in 15 years in January as the Asian economic slowdown worsened amid slumping global demand for electronics and commodities.