• News & article

  What's good for China isn't always good for Alibaba

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 16/12/2015

  » Late on Friday night, Alibaba's Jack Ma joined Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the latest tech billionaire to acquire his own newspaper, by purchasing Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) for US$266 million (9.6 billion baht).

• News & article

  Putting traditional Chinese medicine to the test

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 17/09/2015

  » Toad skins and turtle shells aren't the cures most westerners turn to when they learn they've developed cancer. But in China, the market for traditional remedies like these grew 35% last year, twice as fast as the overall anti-cancer market. Though the effectiveness of these treatments is unproven, Western doctors, elite medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies are starting to put them to the scientific test.

• News & article

  Used goods shape up as Southeast Asia's 'new thing'

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/07/2017

  » On the second floor of a 22,300-square-metre, used-goods superstore in thesuburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Koji Onazawa pauses beside some old Japanese surfboards.

• News & article

  'Insect apocalypse' coming to your neighbourhood

  Oped, Adam Minter, Published on 03/08/2023

  » An unusually large influx of tiny insects called aphids have been sucking on Dallas-area pecan trees in recent weeks. After they've had their fill, they "excrete" the waste out their back ends and onto cars, driveways and sidewalks. "Texas is covered in a sticky, icky goo," declared a Dallas Morning News headline. Other news outlets offered tips on how to clean up the mess.

• News & article

  Endangered species among virus victims

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 13/05/2020

  » Social distancing may save human lives, but it's wreaking havoc on some of the world's most threatened species.

• News & article

  What's wrong with China's national champions?

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/03/2019

  » A year ago, Didi Chuxing Inc, China's largest ride-sharing company, looked like a quintessential "national champion". It had driven Uber Technologies Inc from the local market, attracted investment from Apple Inc and was contemplating a Hong Kong IPO worth as much as US$80 billion (2.5 trillion baht). State media coverage was fawning, government support was all but assured and the company's near-monopoly looked unassailable.

• News & article

  Malaysia grows sceptical about Chinese investment

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 09/05/2018

  » Chinese President Xi Jinping won't be on the ballot when Malaysians vote for a new government today. But he is on election billboards. Although it's probably not a role that Mr Xi would've chosen for himself, China's influence on Malaysia's economy has become one of the most bitterly contested issues in a bruising campaign.

• News & article

  Southeast Asia's 'fake news' laws are a fake solution

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 26/05/2018

  » In the waning days of Malaysia's recent election campaign, then-opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad was investigated under the country's anti-fake news law. Had he been charged and convicted, he could have spent as much as six years in prison. Instead, Dr Mahathir was elected prime minister with a pledge to repeal the law.

• News & article

  Africa's ban on plastic bags won't solve anything

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 10/11/2017

  » In Africa, the plastic shopping bag is an endangered species. Last week, tiny Benin became the latest African country to restrict the import, production and even use of such bags. It's not messing around, either. Following in the steps of Rwanda (where plastic bag importers are publicly shamed) and Kenya (where bags users can be subject to four years in jail), Benin plans to fine bag importers as much as US$87,000 (2.8 million baht).

• News & article

  Why Uber's losing out to locals in Southeast Asia

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 28/07/2017

  » By any measure, the April 2016 decision by Uber Technologies Inc to sell its China operations to rival Didi Chuxing was a defeat. The brief but spectacular battle between the two ride-hailing behemoths had cost Uber at least $2 billion and earned it little more than the enmity of the Chinese government. The only silver lining seemed to be that Uber, free of an expensive price war, could focus its resources on other markets, including rapidly growing Southeast Asia.

1 2 3 Next Last