Showing 1 - 10 of 32
Nepal's young protesters drive a political reset
Oped, Barbim Karki, Published on 27/11/2025
» Nepal announced fresh elections to be held on March 5 next year following a week of deadly violence in September as an interim government headed by the country's Sushila Karki, the first female prime minister, takes charge.
Asean must grab its rare-earth shot
News, Imran Khalid, Published on 22/11/2025
» US President Donald Trump's return to Southeast Asia last month felt like a rerun -- tariffs, tough talk, and televised deals. But this time, he left behind more than headlines. From Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi, Mr Trump inked trade pacts promising tariff relief on US exports in exchange for joint ventures in mining and refining the rare-earth minerals that power the world's clean-tech boom.
Global coral collapse a neglected crisis
News, Imran Khalid, Published on 16/08/2025
» Before the crack of dawn on Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, Somsak Chaisri paddles his wooden boat over waters that used to shimmer with life. A once-vibrant coral garden below the water surface now consists of dead skeleton-like structures. According to this fisherman, the bleached coral skeletons are the only things he pulls from the water after his father showed him how to fish in living coral reefs. "Now, I drag up ghosts," he murmured. His lament echoes across the tropics. From the Maldives to Mozambique, the once-thriving reefs of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans are being scoured of life.
More missiles, memes, and the new resistance
News, Imran Khalid, Published on 19/07/2025
» There was a time, not so long ago, when Walter Cronkite's sombre baritone could turn battlefield dispatches into moments of collective reckoning. Even the first "television war" of 1991, piped in grainy bursts from Baghdad, felt slow enough for shock to sink in. These days, the missiles that streak above Natanz or Esfahan arrive on TikTok between latte art tutorials and kittens sliding off sofas. The effect is less shock-and-awe, more scroll-and-shrug.
US-China trade truce didn't solve rare earths riddle
Oped, Imran Khalid, Published on 27/06/2025
» Amid the swirl of headlines about a US-China trade breakthrough in London on June 11, it is reported that US President Donald Trump said the US and China had made a "great deal" -- with China agreeing to supply US companies with magnets and rare earth metals, while the US would walk back its threats to revoke visas of Chinese students.
Remembering a journo like no other
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/04/2025
» Gwen Robinson was a quintessential journalist who probed for the best scoop and pried for the juiciest gossip, an old-style old hand the likes of which we are unlikely to see again. In the new contentious era of geopolitical conflict and geoeconomic tension underpinned by American economic nationalism, Robinson's journalist craft over more than four decades explaining and linking Asia and the West will be sorely missed.
Zelensky-Trump clash spurs rethink by US allies
News, Peter Apps, Published on 10/03/2025
» As they watched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky evicted from the White House last week after an unprecedented live televised quarrel with President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance, some of America's closest allies began to swiftly reappraise decades of foreign and defence policy.
Don't expect the 'Korea discount' to disappear
News, Manishi Raychaudhuri, Published on 19/12/2024
» South Korea has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons, with a brief spell of martial law, continuing political uncertainty and market ructions. But the sharp underperformance of the country's equity market long predates the turmoil involving recently impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol. The deep-rooted problems suggest the so-called "Korea discount" is unlikely to budge even after political calm has been restored.
Japan faces upheaval as LDP bloc loses majority
News, Alastair Gale & Yuki Hagiwara & Yoshiaki Nohara, Published on 29/10/2024
» Japan faces a period of political instability after the ruling coalition failed to win a majority in parliament for the first time since 2009, setting up a race among two main blocs to form a government.
Asia's consumer tipping point
Oped, Juan Caballero & Wolfgang Fengler, Published on 17/09/2024
» With market turmoil recently capturing headlines, it is easy to lose sight of the long-term forces which have been shaping Asia's development. While Asian markets, especially the Nikkei, experienced sharp losses in recent weeks, a positive tipping point has been reached as well: for the first time ever, over half of Asia's 4.8 billion people are part of the global consumer class, defined by the World Data Lab as those spending more than US$12 (400 baht) per day in purchasing power parity prices.