Alibaba's Jack Ma Yun, never a stranger to the spotlight, was a major headline producer in 2018. In September, he announced his decision to step back from the management of the e-commerce giant -- the subject of the Nikkei Asian Review's most popular story of the year. In November, China's official media revealed that Ma is a member of the Communist Party.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir also made waves and grabbed readers' attention. Here's the list of our top 10 most read stories of 2018.