The global economic crisis has had at least one winner: discount airlines. Many passengers around the world now appear willing to sacrifice luxury for cheaper flights. The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, is where low-cost carriers are proving most popular and the number of people flying is increasing at 6.5 per cent a year. The amount they are willing to pay, however, is falling. Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from Sydney, Australia.

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Asia looks set to become the world's busiest market for air travel in a few years, as the US and Europe cut back on aviation. At the Singapore airshow, airlines have been on a shopping spree. Airbus has taken orders worth $1.3 trillion, and Boeing had good news too, signing its biggest commercial-jet deal ever. Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler reports from Singapore.

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Southeast Asia's Mekong River is home to one of the last populations of Irrawaddy dolphins, but they are now a critically endangered species. The number of dolphins has been fast dwindling in the past one decade; the population in the Mekong is probably less than 100 these days. The cause of the deaths has been baffling, but what is worse is that conservationists cannot agree on how to save it. In the second part of our series on the Mekong, Stephanie Scawen reports from Kratie in Cambodia.

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Search spokesman says no survivors found amid wreckage of Sukhoi plane that crashed in Indonesia with 45 people aboard.

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A rise in case of violence in schools prompts the South Korean government to intervene with immediate effect.

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A farming village in the northern Philippines is forging a brighter future thanks to the sword-making skills of one man. Using recycled steel from trucks, hand-made leather and imported hide from a sting ray, Filomeno de Guzman, a former soldier, fashions hunting knives and sword replicas. His hobby has now made him the biggest exporter of swords from the Philippines to the US, and has created jobs for the people in the village. Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reports from Pangasinan, northern Philippines.

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China, along with three other Asian nations, has started co-ordinated patrols on the Mekong river in an effort to improve security in the increasingly violent area. Thailand, Myanmar and Laos have signed an agreement with Beijing to escort shipping vessels through the Golden Triangle, where the borders of the three countries meet, in an area notorious for drug smuggling. The joint security initiative comes in response to the deaths of 13 Chinese sailors in October. Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports.

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Alcohol drinking has been on the rise in Australia, where bing drinking has correlated to violent acts that sometimes land people in the hospital. On average, almost 200 Australians every day are victims of alcohol-related assaults, and some blame t

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South Korea's in the midst of a jobs crisis. Despite being educated, a growing number of young people are still struggling to find work. Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett reports from Seoul.

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A senior US diplomat arrives in China, just days before a major visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, amid allegations that the US is harbouring an escaped Chinese rights activist. Kurt Campbell, the assistant US secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was seen leaving a US embassy car early on Sunday morning, and would not say why he was in the country on an unscheduled trip. A US-based rights group confirms that Chen Guangcheng, the rights activist in question, is safe and in Beijing, but would not give his exact location. Al Jazeera's Gerald Tan reports.

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Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader, has been sworn in as a member of parliament after nearly two decades of struggle against the powerful military.

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After Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indonesian maid for murder last year, there was a national outcry in the East Asian nation. Now the Indonesian government is planning to stop sending maids abroad by 2017 amid reports that several maids are enduring abuse. Currently, more than 60 Indonesian workers are currently facing the death penalty around the world. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Jakarta.

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People across Asia and the western United States have been gazing at the skies to see the sun blotted out. An annular solar eclipse created a "ring of fire" around the moon when it reached its peak in the US late on Sunday local time. The eclipse generated much excitment in Tokyo, which has not witnessed one for 173 years and won`t see another for centuries. Al Jazeera's Mike Firn reports.

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South Korea's defence industry has been steadily taking off over the past six years, in part spurred by concerns over reported advances made by its neighbour to the north. Now the country's Korea Aerospace Industries is hoping to land a deal to replace the fleet of training aircraft used by the United States - a contract potentially worth $8bn. Having already secured contracts with the Indonesian military, the company is now turning its eye to nations that use fighter jets currently made in the US. Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett reports from Gyeongnam Province.

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Thanks to a new invention by university students in the Philippines, blind people may be able to use mobile phones with much more ease. Engineering students created a mobile phone for the visually impaired by putting a braille pad on the console to help them read and send text messages. One of the country's largest mobile phone networks is now looking into developing and distributing the braille units at an affordable price. Marga Orgitas reports from Manila.

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We already have witnessed how technology and internet revolution have changed the modern day communications. South Korea has gone a step ahead and unveiled a 'smart' high school where roll calling is a thing of the past and tablet computers or 'smart pads' have replaced bags burdened with notebooks. The prototype 'smart school' has technology at its core where students are experiencing the ultimate high-tech education. The government believes that a digital economy will require a technology-savvy workforce, and the new school seems to fit into their motto: Today's pupils are tomorrow's pioneers. Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from city of Sejong.

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Relatives of a former high ranking Chinese politician Bo Xilai say he is the victim of a smear campaign. Bo was fired from his post as Communist Party Secretary of the Chongqing municipality. And he has not been seen since. Melissa Chan reports.

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Malaysia's High Court acquitted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomising a former aide, citing unreliable DNA evidence in a verdict Monday that surprised supporters who saw the case as an attempt to sideline him. Anwar said the verdict left him free to focus on trying to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak's long-ruling coalition in national elections that many predict will be held within months. The opposition has long maintained that the government concocted the charge to damage Anwar's chances of leading his three-party alliance to an election victory. Najib denies plotting against Anwar. Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett spoke to Anwar after the verdict.

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After a year-long legal battle, China will be allowed to buy farmland in new Zealand. Some experts say these purchases are less about business and more about rich countries securing their own food supply at the expense of less well off nations.

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Elected representatives across the world love to flex their political muscle. But in South Korea, politicians do so literally, with physical altercations breaking out in official meetings and clashes in parliament sometimes resulting in injuries. These brawls have given the country's politicians such a bad image that parliament is now debating new legislation aimed at curbing the violence. Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from Seoul.

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Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has boarded a plane bound for the United States, closing a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested US-China relations. Chen, 40, his wife and their two children were on United Airlines Flight 88, which took off late on Saturday afternoon from Beijing's airport. The flight is scheduled to arrive in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday evening. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports.

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Thousands of people have been protesting in Malaysia demanding democratic reforms. The country's government says the demonstration is unnecessary because it is already overhauling the electoral system. Harry Fawcett was at the protest.

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The growing scandal involving former politician, Bo Xilai is stirring up Chinese social media. The government has ramped up censors in response to online discourse. Al Jazeera's Rob McBride reports from Hong Kong.

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Afghanistan is responsible for ninety per cent of the world's supply of heroin. Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith has been given exclusive access to a group of smugglers as they prepared to cross the border into Iran with a large delivery of heroin.

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China is set to pass a landmark criminal procedure law to provide more rights to detainees, including rendering all evidence collected under torture unusable, granting suspects immediate access to a lawyer, and obliging authorities to tell families within 24 hours of a relative's detention. But for those held in China's so-called 'black jails' - secret detention centres where people are kept without charge and without having been formally arrested - what is written in law can be very different to what happens on the ground. Melissa Chan joins relatives of the missing seeking answers about their family members at one such facility in Beijing in this Al Jazeera exclusive.

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There's been global condemnation of a rocket launched by North Korea, which broke up minutes after lift-off and plunged into the sea. Harry Fawcett reports from Seoul.

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Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), says that a dispute over the wording of the country's parliamentary oath of office has been resolved. Suu Kyi's announcement came just minutes before Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, became the first foreign dignitary to address the parliament, in the capital Naypyidaw, on Monday. NLD legislators were not present in the assembly during Ban's speech. Speaking in Yangon on Monday, she said that NLD politicians, who had refused to pledge to "safeguard" the constitution the party has vowed to amend, would be taking their oaths of office and sitting in parliament for the first time "as soon as possible". Suu Kyi is expected to take the oath on Wednesday. Veronica Pedrosa reports from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand.

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"You're the Man!" is a popular reality show in Cambodia which aims to teach contestants about HIV prevention. Its social message about AIDS in a traditionally conservative society has generated a lot of debate in the southeast Asian country. Al Jazeera's Stephanie Scawen reports from Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

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A renowned Feng Shui master in Hong Kong is facing charges for allegedly forging the will of Asia's richest woman to inherit her fortune. Tony Chan continues to insist that Nina Wang's estate, worth $12b, was left to him in her will, although a court ruled last year that the document was forged. Rob Mcbride reports from Hong Kong.

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A senior US diplomat has arrived in China on an unscheduled visit, amid claims that a fugitive Chinese dissident has taken refuge in the US embassy in Beijing. The issue, centring on Chen Guangcheng, a blind legal activist who escaped from home imprisonment, is threatening to eclipse a planned visit by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, in the coming days. Tarek Bazley reports.

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Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Thailand for the funeral of Amphon Tangnoppakul, also known as 'Uncle SMS'. He died less than six months into a 20-year prison sentence for sending four text messages that were deemed insulting to the Thai monarchy. Tangnoppakul's death has shone a light on Thailand's strict lese majeste laws, which were designed to prevent criticism of the royal family. Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawtra has admitted to Al Jazeera that the law is sometimes misused, while a growing portion of the public is now calling for it to be changed. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Samut Prakan, Thailand.

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As other countries struggle with unemployment, South Korea is creating jobs at a rapid rate. Even so, many of the nation's young people are still finding it difficult to get started. In the second of a five-part series looking at youth unemployment, Harry Fawcett reports from the South Korean capital, Seoul.

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Myanmar's opposition party, National League for Democracy has said their leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won a seat in country's parliament in the by-election for 45 out of 664 seats.

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China's leaders are beginning the complex process of transferring power to a new generation - the first such handover in a decade. All this week, Al Jazeera has been looking at the role of the Communist Party in modern China. In Melissa Chan's final report, she heads to Sichuan province to see how far the party reaches into the country's rural heartland.

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Environmentalists in Australia are on a mission to help save sharks from being attacked by human beings. The number of people attacked or killed by sharks worldwide is miniscule compared with 30-70 million sharks killed by people every year. Conservationists say that puting in place a new monitoring system can help to save both the sharks and the people. Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from Perth.

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Human rights activists and religious scholars in Indonesia are demanding the release of a man who wrote on Facebook that he did not believe in God. Alexander An, a 31-year-old civil servant, is facing five years in prison after being charged with defamation of religion. He says he started to question the existence of God when he was a child. Although the country is officially secular, every Indonesian has to have a religion and register himself according to one of the official five religions. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Dharmasraya in West Sumatra.

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A Taiwanese man keeping history alive by stopping the printing press from sinking into obscurity.

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