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May 04, 2024
 

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SOUTHEAST ASIA

Awang Suang trims weeds from palm trees on his small plantation in Membakut, Malaysia on Feb. 12. He has been cultivating oil palms for more than 50 years after switching from rubber trees. Palms require less labor and produce more frequent harvests — roughly every two weeks, year round — providing a steadier income, he explained.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 18, 2024
Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia?
A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim hold a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 12, 2024
Scholz meets with ASEAN leaders, looking to reduce China dependency
China still dominates the supply of raw materials needed to make electric-vehicle batteries, solar panels and other high-tech products.
The Yarra River in Melbourne. The leaders of every ASEAN member, bar Myanmar, were in Australia for a three-day summit to commemorate 50 years of relations.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 4, 2024
Australia and Southeast Asia push to bolster ties in China’s shadow
The leaders of every ASEAN member, bar Myanmar, were in Australia for a three-day summit to commemorate 50 years of relations.
Migrant workers harvest and package vegetables in a greenhouse in Gasan-myeon, South Korea, in December.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 3, 2024
South Korea needs foreign workers, but often fails to protect them
Though a shrinking population makes imported labor vital, migrant workers routinely face predatory employers, inhumane conditions and other abuse.
Visa-free access for Chinese tourists to Southeast Asia countries boosted traffic and signaled a robust revival in travel since Beijing lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in early 2023 that had all but shut China's borders for three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 21, 2024
Chinese tourists flock to Southeast Asia as travel bounces back
The increase provides welcome relief to countries that rely on the Chinese and their spending.
More than 1,000 people lined up at the Thai Embassy in Yangon on Friday after Myanmar's junta said it would soon enforce military service on all men between the ages of 18 and 35 and women between the ages of 18 and 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 19, 2024
Myanmar junta's conscription plan shows toll of fighting rebels
The military has been battling an armed resistance since a 2021 coup toppled the democratically elected government.
Exit polls show Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (right) decisively winning the first round of voting for the presidency, eliminating the need for a runoff. The size and scale the election means finalizing the count will take weeks.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2024
Prabowo’s win signals continuity for Indonesia and the region
Prabowo is likely to be more engaged in foreign policy, mostly because outgoing President Joko Widodo had been largely uninterested.
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto votes at a polling station during the general election in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Prabowo on track to win Indonesia’s presidential election
This is Prabowo’s third time to run for the country’s top job, after losing in 2014 and 2019 to incumbent Joko "Jokowo" Widodo.
Soldiers stand next to military vehicles in Yangon, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Myanmar junta plans mandatory military service, media says
Some retired members of the security forces may also have to return to the army.
Indonesian Defense Minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto salutes supporters during a campaign rally in Jakarta on Feb. 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 12, 2024
How could Indonesia’s presidential vote affect foreign relations?
While all three candidates portend continuity with their predecessor, only the front-runner vows more visible leadership in the region.
Asia's pandemic-era policies must now be unwound against a backdrop of slower GDP growth, higher inflation and increased debt.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2024
A new economic policy agenda for Asia
Asia's pandemic-era policies must now be unwound against a backdrop of slower GDP growth, higher inflation and increased debt.
Myanmar's junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government in a coup, presides over an army parade in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2024
Arms dealer linked to Myanmar junta acquitted in money laundering case
Authorities had accused Tun Min Latt of engaging in a scheme to launder drug money by using it to buy electricity in Thailand and sending it to Myanmar.
Philippine's Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) and Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong at a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on Tuesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 30, 2024
Amid China concerns, Manila and Hanoi agree to better manage maritime disputes
The Philippines is turning to neighboring South China Sea claimant states to boost security ties and potentially forge a united front against Beijing.
Anindya Shabrina Prasetiyo (center), a Labour Party legislative candidate in the upcoming general election, attends a rally on Jan. 19 in front of City Hall in Surabaya. Indonesia's presidential and legislative elections next month will see more than 200 million people eligible to vote, with slightly more than half of them women according to the country's election commission, yet with much fewer women representing them.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
Indonesian women hope election breaks them into boys' club
More than 200 million people are eligible to vote in the Feb. 14 election, yet only a handful of women represent them in parliament.
People gather on top of Tata Consultancy Services pavilion on which a slogan related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is displayed, during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Philippines to propose ASEAN AI regulatory framework
The move will be a challenge in ASEAN, a region comprised of 10 countries with widely differing views on censorship, intellectual property, misinformation and social media.
People's Liberation Army forces walk near the Sagaing Region in Myanmar on Nov. 23.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 2, 2024
Myanmar's 'watermelons': Soldier on the outside, rebel inside
Opposition groups say it is difficult to determine how many members of the security forces supplied information to the resistance, but they play a crucial role.
A female member of the Mandalay People's Defense Forces repairs and cleans a weapon at their base camp in the forest near Namhsan Township in Myanmar's northern Shan State. In the hills of northern Myanmar young women fly combat drones, treat wounded comrades and patrol the front lines — new roles in the battle to overthrow the military junta.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 27, 2023
'Mandalay girls' upending gender norms on Myanmar's front lines
Hundreds of women in pro-democracy fighting units, some still teenagers, are operating drones, joining patrols and working as medics.
ASEAN leaders and their spouses release paper lanterns into the air with students from ASEAN member states during a lighting ceremony for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit at Azabudai Hills in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 18, 2023
With China in mind, Japan expands security ties with ASEAN
At a leaders summit, the two sides agreed to deepen security ties in areas such as defense equipment and joint training and exercises.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) and ASEAN leaders join hands during a photo session during a summit meeting in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 17, 2023
Japan and ASEAN vow to widen cooperation after 50 years of ties
The agreement came as Tokyo bolsters alliances with the Global South to counter Beijing's growing regional influence.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the start of a bilateral meeting in Tokyo on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2023
Japan-ASEAN summit aims to advance 'security cooperation'
Japan is also expected to use the summit to push energy cooperation as it seeks to export emissions-reducing tech that critics have questioned.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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