Bloomberg
How a Frenzied Race to Harness the Mekong Turned Deadly
Stretching from its headwaters in the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau to its endpoint in the delta marshes of Vietnam, the mighty Mekong River is one of the world’s great ecosystems. For Laos, it represents so much more: the energy source behind an ambitious hydro-power buildout and ...
Gender Inequality Could Be Costing Asia Pacific $4.5 Trillion
It might be the most dynamic region in the world but the Asia Pacific isn’t meeting its economic potential, and some of that has to do with gender equality, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. Targeted policies to achieve more women’s equality in Asia-Pacific economies ...
Michelle Jamrisko
How Antibiotic-Tainted Seafood From China Ends Up on Your Table
From the air, the Pearl River Delta in southern China’s Guangdong province resembles a mass of human cells under a microscope. Hundreds of thousands of tiny rectangular blocks, all of them shades of green, are clustered between cities and waterways. Keep reading ...
Bloomberg Reporter
Trump visits Vietnam, a tiger economy that beats his stock rally
As Asia-Pacific leaders gather for a summit in Vietnam on Friday, they’ll be greeted with an economy that’s following the same old development track that propelled development in regional neighbors from Japan to China. Having sustained double-digit export gains for most of the past five years, ...
Chris Anstey and Giang Nguyen
These are the top destinations for Southeast Asia's migrants
Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, have become the region’s migration hubs and are now home to 6.5 million migrants from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the World Bank said. Myanmar and Indonesia are the top sources of migrants, the Washington-based lender said in a report ...
Michelle Jamrisko
Southeast Asia banks urged to amend environment policy
Banks and regulators in Southeast Asia should strengthen financial-sector rules and guidelines to promote funding for environment-friendly projects in a region threatened by deforestation and climate change, the World Wildlife Fund said. Keep reading ...
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Southeast Asia Looks Likely to See More U.S. Investment
American business enthusiasm in Southeast Asia is bent but far from broken even as the region grapples with a new trade framework and less U.S. government involvement, according to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. Keep reading ...
Michelle Jamrisko
Thailand to take on Singapore with $5.7 billion airport overhaul
Thailand is seeking to take on Singapore’s dominance in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul with a $5.7 billion upgrade of a Vietnam War-era airport. Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Sikorsky Aircraft is the latest company to study a possible increase in MRO spend in Thailand in the wake ...
Southeast Asian governments are ramping up spending
Governments in Southeast Asia are ramping up spending just as central banks are putting away their policy-easing tools. From Thailand to Malaysia, states are boosting budgets for railways, roads and other infrastructure projects to help bolster growth in a region facing uncertain global markets and the ...
Asia's smallest economies are among its fastest growing
Asia’s smallest economies are growing faster than giants like China, according to the World Bank. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will post the most rapid expansions in Asia after India from 2017 to 2019, sustaining growth rates of close to 7 percent, according to forecasts released this week. ...