Showing 191 - 198 of 198
Score gold by protecting activists, not mine operators
News, Sutharee Wannasiri and Amy Smith, Published on 02/10/2018
» Thai authorities and a local gold mining company have targeted and violated the rights of environmental defenders involved in opposing a gold mine in northeastern Thailand for more than a decade, a new report conducted by Fortify Rights has found.
Despot Kim pivots toward economy
News, Hyonhee Shin and Jeongmin Kim, Published on 23/07/2018
» North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's strident rebukes of officials during recent trips to industrial sites were aimed at rallying support at home for his economic drive and convincing outsiders about his willingness to denuclearise.
Using technology to fill the gap in welfare delivery
News, Boonwara Sumano and Suttipong Kanakakorn, Published on 13/06/2018
» The threat of digitally disruptive technologies has caused many people to grow concerned as they fret about disappearing jobs due to greater automation and advanced technology replacing humans on factory floors, in offices and elsewhere. But such technology can also work wonders to improve the country's welfare delivery system. Better yet, it can be designed to help prevent fraud and corruption.
What does the future hold for an at-the-crossroads Asean?
Nehginpao Kipgen and Soumya Chaturvedi, Published on 26/05/2018
» Asean as a regional organisation marked its 50th anniversary last year. Year-round events were organised to celebrate the functioning of an organisation that was predicted to wither away or collapse by political analysts at the time of its formation.
English literacy just the tip of the iceberg
News, Daniel Maxwell and Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 21/04/2018
» An ambitious initiative being planned by the Thai Ministry of Education to place thousands of young foreign teachers in rural schools across Thailand has the potential to dramatically improve English-language abilities. However, quality control is likely to prove problematic, as is culture shock. In addition, students in rural communities face myriad educational challenges far beyond foreign language proficiency, which restrict equality of opportunity.
Let's have bureaucrats empower people
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa and Sirisak Laochankham, Published on 07/04/2018
» The outcry about the Khon Kaen deputy governor's letter last month to launch a programme to "stop citizens from being stupid" has largely been placated, following public apologies. But this incident reflects the flaws in the long-standing attitude of the bureaucracy in Thailand towards citizens. Right from the very start, the Thai bureaucracy was designed to control the destiny of the populace, not empower them.
Africa's man-made water crisis
News, Asit K. Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada, Published on 22/02/2018
» About a decade ago, at a meeting of South African mayors convened by Lindiwe Hendricks, South Africa's then-minister of water and environmental affairs, we predicted that an unprecedented water crisis would hit one of the country's main cities within 15 years, unless water-management practices were improved significantly. That prediction has now come true, with Cape Town facing a shutdown of its piped water network. The question now is whether African leaders will allow our other projection -- that, within the next 25-30 years, many more of the continent's cities will be facing similar crises -- to materialise.
Gender stereotypes holding back tomorrow's science solutions
Oped, Audrey Azoulay and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Published on 11/02/2018
» Our future will be marked by scientific and technological progress, just like our past. That future progress will be the greatest when it draws on the full talent, creativity and ideas of women and girls in science. Most countries, industrialised or not, are far from achieving gender parity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects (Stem) at every level of the education system. That deficit feeds the employment gap. According to estimates by the Unesco Institute of Statistics, women currently represent less than 30% of the research and development workforce worldwide.