Showing 1 - 10 of 199
Poorest countries can't be ignored
Published on 18/06/2024
» They are home to a quarter of humanity -- 1.9 billion people. They possess prized natural resources, including one-fifth of the world's copper and gold reserves, as well as many of the rare metals essential for the transition to clean energy. Their working-age populations are set to expand for the next five decades amid demographic decline nearly everywhere else. Yet a historic reversal is underway among the world's 75 countries eligible for grants and low-interest loans from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA).
India's exit polls may be more noise than signal
News, Andy Mukherjee, Published on 04/06/2024
» Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set for a landslide victory in India's general election. Or so claims nearly every exit poll released since the end of voting on Saturday evening. Yet, these surveys have proved spectacularly wrong in the past, and they must be read even more cautiously this time around because of the Modi government's outsize sway on the television stations that commission them.
Lop Buri before the monkeying around
Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/06/2024
» One of the first towns I visited in Thailand in the early 1970s was Lop Buri, about 150 km north of Bangkok. Its main appeal was its convenient three-hour train journey from Hua Lamphong. It offered a chance to escape Bangkok for a couple of days and experience a taste of life in a small town.
Overcrowded prisons need reforming
News, Published on 10/04/2024
» Extreme overcrowding in Thai prisons forces inmates to endure deplorable conditions, stripping away their dignity and humanity. It's a humanitarian crisis that demands immediate action.
Protect forest, fresh water resources
Oped, Published on 21/03/2024
» United we stand, divided we fall -- it's an old cliché, but when talking about access to fresh water in this Asia and Pacific region, it's worth reminding ourselves how imperative it is to work together, within countries and across borders, to share and protect this precious resource.
BoT is absolutely right in holding rates
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 22/02/2024
» The whole country -- the government, its economic agencies, private economic research houses, the private sector, and academics -- is accusing the Bank of Thailand (BoT) of being stubborn for refusing to lower interest rates to support the weak economy, aka, the economy in crisis.
Important to invest in cultural assets
Oped, Published on 15/02/2024
» Thailand's vast architectural and cultural heritage is more than just a source of enjoyment and public pride. It is probably the nation's most important resource besides its people. And heritage empowers the people. It supports social and economic welfare in lots of ways. It's worth taking care of.
Climate-smart rice farming the future
Oped, Published on 23/12/2023
» Rice is Thailand's most important food crop and an integral part of Thai culture and society. At the same time, rice farmers remain among the poorest occupational groups in Thailand and are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate -- rice farming is a water-intensive and temperature-sensitive activity conducted in a climate that is becoming increasingly characterised by longer dry spells and higher temperatures.
Asia-Pacific's bread and butter
Oped, Published on 29/11/2023
» Here, in the world's most populous region, there is a crisis slowly unfolding that involves the earth beneath our feet. The soil that has been producing the food we eat and supporting the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of farmers and others is under threat.
From eating junk food to hydroponic farming
Oped, Published on 25/11/2023
» I am probably like any other teenager when it comes to food. I just want my hamburger to have crisp lettuce and thick-cut fresh tomato slices. I enter one of the thousands of 7-Eleven's in Bangkok and -- like a magnet -- I am drawn to the rows of well-advertised and brightly coloured packages of fat-filled snacks and artery-clogging sweets.