It wasn't that long ago that Shanghaiist headed straight to Crystal Jade in Xintiandi for our regular weekend dim sum brunch. Since then, however, our new loyalties lie with two restaurants closer to headquarters. Our first impressions of Lynn back when it opened early last year was that customers were paying the bulk of the price premium for its sleek, modern decor and presentation rather than the quality of its traditional Shanghainese fare. However, dim sum lovers have been flocking to Lynn for their weekend all-you-can-eat dim sum menu, and for good reason. For 68 RMB, one can indulge on a free-flow of traditional Cantonese and Shanghainese favorites. Not a bad price, considering ordering a la carte for a single serving of hot and sour soup will run about half of that (and yes, the soup is also on the all-you-can eat menu). more ›

Air Asia, Asia's first budget airline, has just announced its latest China destination. From now on, you can fly from Hangzhou (which is just a stone's throw from Shanghai) to Kuala Lumpur at a fraction of the price! We just did a quick check on their system and if you plan ahead of time, you can expect to pay around RMB1,115 (taxes included) for the flight. You can even select your own seats on the website if you pay an additional RMB48! Kuala Lumpur being Air Asia headquarters, you can fly onward to a host of other exciting Southeast Asian destinations for that much-needed break. Other Chinese destinations currently served by Air Asia are Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Macau. more ›

Southeast Asian pact exposes rifts [NY Times] Southeast Asian leaders signed a charter here today that was drafted as a watershed document to bind the region together as a European-style economic community but has instead exposed the sharp divisions over Myanmar and other issues among the signatories.Malaysia busts DVD lab in its biggest raid in 2007 [Reuters] Malaysia has raided a laboratory capable of churning out $52 million worth of pirated DVDs a year in... more ›

Hong Kong Triad T-Shirt Gets Fashion Label in Hot Water [Asiaone.com] The arrest of 18 employees of a Hong Kong lifestyle and retail chain over a controversial new line of T-shirts '14K' bearing the name of a well-known triad gang spurred an apology from the store's founder.Pakistan - Besieged Musharraf plays for time [Asia Times] Having opened a can of worms by declaring a state of emergency, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is now in... more ›

Alibaba.com, the Chinese e-commerce site, will go public in Hong Kong next week in one of the hottest technology initial public offerings since Google. more ›

Li Heping, an outspoken Chinese lawyer said Wednesday he was abducted and beaten for hours, and accused of causing unrest by representing clients with complaints of official corruption and police abuse. more ›

The Indian government on Tuesday invited six aircraft manufacturers including Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. to bid on a contract for 126 combat planes worth up to $10 billion. more ›

The last time we heard from Air China, it was hit by an embarrassing spate of accidents. Not so long afterwards, it announced an order for 15 units of the new Boeing 767 Dreamliner. This time, Air China has proclaimed its ambitions to grow its market share in Beijing from the existing 44% up to 50%. more ›

Elsewhere - Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal - the fifth richest man in the world - has emerged as a contender to buy Birmingham, while Arsenal faces a takeover bid from an Arab tycoon Mohammed Al Hashimi who was a partner in a £450million bid to buy Liverpool. In the meanwhile, ousted billionaire Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is reportedly poised to buy English football's Manchester City, although the Bank of Thailand said it has not received a money transfer request from Thaksin. Are Asians going to take over the English Premier League someday? more ›

This past week featured an appearance by two very special ladies, drag queens Gwen and Bling (see photo). Their website describes them as follows: more ›

Hong Kong fashion mecca Joyce will expand its boutiques to Shanghai and Beijing by 2007, according to managing director Adrienne Ma. Ma told Bloomberg News: "Greater China is definitely our focus, our direction, our strategy." more ›

Asian Football Confederation president Peter Velappan warned that corruption could "kill" soccer in China, according to an AFP story. "The government must investigate the allegations of corruption and eliminate the scourge in Chinese soccer," Velappan said. "[T]hey have to be very serious to fight corruption. When some Southeast Asian countries had this problem, we advised them to get the help of the police. This is what we have advised China to do." more ›