A Chinese businessman persuaded officials to establish a special economic zone in a remote part of Laos. The gamblers arrived first. Then came the drug runners, human traffickers and scammers.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Matt Campbell about his investigation into the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and how it became a criminal’s paradise.

Read more: Dodge City

Watch, from Bloomberg Originals: How One Man Rules in Asia's Golden Triangle

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After weeks of protests and a brutal crackdown that led to several hundred deaths, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down and flee the country, putting an abrupt end to her more than 15 years in power. Stepping into the leadership vacuum is Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who we spoke to last month -- when he was facing charges that his supporters said were trumped up by Hasina. 

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Kai Schultz about what drove the student-led uprising and Hasina’s downfall, Yunus’s surprising turn to politics, and what’s at stake for one of Asia’s most promising economies.

Read more: 

Yunus Cleared in Graft Case After Becoming Bangladesh Leader

Further listening: 

Why This Nobel Prize Winner Faces Life Imprisonment in Bangladesh

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Gautam Adani, the controversial Indian billionaire, gathered his two sons and two nephews for a family lunch one day and asked them a bombshell question: Did they want to carve up the Adani Group’s sprawling businesses between themselves and part ways? Or did they want to stick together? He gave them three months to decide.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg editor Anto Antony about the Adanis’ ambitious succession plan, in the wake of regulatory probes and a daring short-seller attack. We also hear from the Adanis themselves on their vision of an Adani Group without Gautam at the helm, how they’ll make decisions to manage an empire – which spans everything from airports to solar farms – and what's at stake for India’s $3.5 trillion economy.

Read more: Adani Unveils $213 Billion Succession Plan as Scrutiny Persists

Further listening: The Rise of Modi: Why India’s Leader Is So Popular – and Polarizing

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Costs are rising in Japan and small businesses risk being squeezed into oblivion if they don’t figure out how to raise their prices. After decades of deflation, many small Japanese companies are out of practice on exactly how to do it.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg senior editor Reed Stevenson about a class he visited where people are relearning the long-lost skill of negotiation, and what a failure to raise prices at these small businesses – which make up 90% of the economy – could mean for Japan’s future.

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Is K-pop even K-pop without the K? A Bloomberg analysis of song lyrics shows that for the first time, almost half of K-pop songs released this year have majority English lyrics. 

On today’s podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with Bloomberg reporter Sohee Kim about the genre’s identity shift and why industry efforts to grow its global audience might mean fewer Korean band members.

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Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus pioneered micro loans as a tool to fight poverty. Now prosecutors in Bangladesh have linked him and his colleagues to a dizzying number of crimes, including embezzlement and laundering millions of dollars. 

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Kai Schultz about the complicated saga and what implications Yunus’s case has for Bangladesh, one of the fastest growing economies. We also hear from Yunus himself, who talks about the rift between him and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the personal impact of the legal drama.

Read more: Why the Nobel-Laureate Pioneer of Microfinance Risks Life in Jail

Big Money Backs Tiny Loans That Lead to Debt, Despair and Even Suicide

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China’s Luckin Coffee is the nation’s top coffee retailer, overtaking even Starbucks. That would be notable itself, but less than 4 years ago the company filed for bankruptcy, making its comeback even more unlikely. The turnaround is in part thanks to the chain’s automated stores, cut-price deals and innovative drinks that appeal to local tastes.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Rachel Chang on how Luckin managed to turn around its failing business to overtake Starbucks, and asks whether it can hold on to its success as coffee takes off in China, and more rivals emerge.

Read more: China’s Luckin Coffee Is Back From the Brink and Beating Starbucks

Further listening: What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party? 

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One after another, bankers at China International Capital Corporation — China’s premier investment bank – are pledging loyalty to the Communist Party, underscoring a new reality for Wall Street-style capitalists in the era of Xi Jinping.

Today on the Big Take Asia, host David Gura speaks with Bloomberg’s Cathy Chan about the tug-of-war between communism and capitalism at the “Morgan Stanley of China,” and how politics are redefining Chinese finance.

Read More: China’s Investment Bankers Join the Communist Party as Morale (and Paychecks) Shrink

Further listening: What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party?

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Four years after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important financial hub connecting mainland China with the rest of the world. But beneath the surface, the consequences of the crackdown are far-reaching.

Today on the Big Take Asia, ahead of the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s China editor Alan Wong about how Beijing is reshaping Hong Kong, its impact on the city’s residents and what that means for Hong Kong’s future.

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Indonesia’s nickel business is booming. The metal is a key component in electric car batteries, but its success has a dark side: the country’s nickel mines and processing plants have a history of fatal accidents, with workers being run over by forklifts and burnt to death in smelter fires. 

Today on The Big Take Asia, host Janet Paskin speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Matt Campbell about his investigation into the mines. He found that nickel sourced from these plants are present in the supply chain that feeds virtually every major seller of EVs, and is an indispensable part of the car industry’s green revolution.

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