Asia

Tai Shan on his first birthday. The panda was conceived in 2005 through artificial insemination in a procedure performed by National Zoo scientists and veterinarians. Ann Batdorf/Smithsonian Institution via AP hide caption

Pedestrians pass a high-rise building being constructed in Beijing in December. New figures show that property sales in China jumped 75 percent last year, as record levels of bank loans boosted purchases. Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Workers ride past cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant on the outskirts of Beijing. Such power plants are at the center of a debate about the future of energy production in China and the U.S. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Local residents protest against a U.S. military base in Kadena on Japan's Okinawa island, Nov. 5, 2009. Most U.S. bases in Japan are on the southern island and have been the source of tensions for decades. Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images hide caption