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ASIA PACIFIC

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Science & Health

Podcast hosts Terence Chia (left) and Haresh Tilani discuss their show "Yah Lah But" in their studio in Singapore.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Apr 30, 2025

Mic check: Singapore's podcast boom amplifies opposition voices

By Satish Cheney

Mainstream election coverage of Singapore's opposition parties has improved over the past decade, with its news podcasts showing a willingness to feature alternative voices.

Students raise their hands in class in front of fans at an elementary school in Manila on March 21. Last year, heat waves forced millions of children in the Philippines out of school. It was the first time that soaring temperatures had caused widespread class suspensions, prompting a series of changes.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Apr 14, 2025

Early holiday, more fans: Philippines' schools adapt to climate change

By Cecil Morella

Heat waves forced millions of children in the Philippines out of school in 2024, the first time that soaring temperatures had caused widespread class suspensions.

An 81-year-old apple farmer who lost her crop walks past the remains of her neighbors' homes after a wildfire swept through the area, in Andong, South Korea, on Thursday.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Mar 30, 2025

South Korea's 'heartbreaking' wildfires expose superaged society

By Anthony Wallace and Claire Lee

The inferno has also laid bare South Korea's demographic crisis and regional disparities.

A couple take wedding photos in Qingdao, China, in April last year.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Mar 23, 2025

Beijing simplifies marriages to encourage Chinese to wed

Couples having children outside of marriage is rare in China, where there is social stigma and fewer protections for such families.

The Auckland skyline at sunset in 2023. New Zealand's economy was the worst performing in the developed world last year, according to HSBC.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Mar 4, 2025

New Zealand's economic missteps hasten exodus to sunnier shores

By Lucy Craymer

A total of 128,700 people permanently left the Pacific nation of 5.3 million in 2024, provisionally the largest exodus on record.

Girls take care of their baby brother before leaving for school in Seoul. South Korea just recorded its first rise in fertility rates in nearly a decade.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Feb 26, 2025

South Korea's policy push springs to life as world's lowest birth rate rises

By Jihoon Lee and Hyun Young Yi

That shift in societal norms could prove pivotal in a country that has seen its birth rate plummet to the lowest in the world.

A woman fits her wedding dress at a bridal shop in Luliang, northern China's Shanxi province, on Feb. 11.

ASIA PACIFIC / Society

Feb 25, 2025

China adviser pushes to lower legal marriage age to 18 to boost birthrate

The comments comments come ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meeting, where officials are expected to announce measures to offset the country's declining population.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.

Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?

By Eric Margolis

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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