News
Japan's Abe to meet Trump next week: official
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to meet US president-elect Donald Trump next week in New York, officials said November 10, after phone talks between the two following the billionaire’s shock election win. Abe and Trump spoke for about 20 minutes and tentatively set a ...
Asia leaders off-the-mark to congratulate Trump on victory
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump, hoping for ‘enhanced Philippines-US relations’ while Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina invited Trump and his wife to visit Bangladesh. Leaders across Asia congratulated Republican Donald Trump on winning the bitterly fought US presidential election. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte extended his wishes to the US ...
Malaysia proposes raising marriage age for Muslim girls
Malaysia has proposed to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 for Muslim girls in a bid to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and enhance social protection for minors. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has engaged stakeholders, including various state religious affairs ...
Anxiety in Manila as Duterte blasts U.S., embraces China
During long hours stuck in Manila’s choking traffic, taxi driver Maning Yabut constantly hears about the anxieties of Filipinos from all walks of life. These days, the talk is all about whether President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-U.S. outbursts are good for the Philippines. Particularly concerned, he ...
A better way to assess harm to environment
Conservation groups used to fight for environmental impact assessments or EIAs to be carried out before big government development projects. Today, that fight has been partly won with government agencies commissioning such assessments to scope out the environmental impact of big projects, such as the ...
China needs 'lose-win' diplomacy in ASEAN
Scanning the regional landscape on November 3, South-east Asian states ought to be quite optimistic about the state of ASEAN-China relations just as the year closes on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of their dialogue partnership. ASEAN and China have agreed to a series of ...
Aquafarming tech will be key to satisfying a seafood-hungry Asia
Some 800 meters above sea level and more than 100km from the nearest ocean, thousands of red sea bream thrive in the mountains of central Japan. Despite being far from their usual habitat, the fish are growing at a healthy rate in their large round ...
Indigenous lands are even more critical to preserving the Earth than we thought
Nearly one quarter of the carbon stored above ground in tropical forests is currently in the care of indigenous and traditional communities. A new report suggests that keeping those populations on the land and guaranteeing their right to it could be the key to keeping ...
China's climate change chief on Trump: wise leaders don't resist global trends
Four days after the Paris Agreement goes into force, the United States will hold its presidential election. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said in the past that he would “cancel the Paris climate agreement,” prompting a reporter to ask China’s special representative for climate ...
Goa summit could be the turning point for BIMSTEC
The recently concluded eighth BRICS summit in Goa, India on October 15-16 saw a range of unprecedented outcomes and engagements. One of the biggest highlights among them was the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit, where the BRICS leaders met the heads of government of the BIMSTEC countries. ...
