By any measure, Shanghai is one of the world’s biggest cities. It‘s home to more than 24 million people. Its subway system is the longest ever built, extending to its rural limits. Crowds are so thick that burly “shovers” get paid to help pack the trains. Now the local government is saying enough is enough: Documents released this week reveal that Shanghai intends to admit a mere 800,000 new residents over the next 24 years, on its way to becoming an “excellent global city.”　A population cap on

This is the ninth article in a series of columns on global affairs written by top editors from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region. Ed Zhang is editor-at-large of China Daily. -- Ed.　In early September, China will host the 2016 G-20 Leaders’ Summit in the scenic city of Hangzhou. But soon afterwards, it will hold a high-level event with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to take place in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The big power club is for

Many Western media outlets were highly critical of France’s 2010 law banning face coverings, such as burkas that cover a woman’s face and entire body, and local decrees adopted this year banning full-body “burkini” swimsuits on public beaches have drawn further negative attention. French-bashing in the press is nothing new, but those who criticize these measures ignore the historical and sociopolitical reasons for why most French people support them.For starters, secularism — or “laicite” — is a

The US Treasury thinks it’s bad enough that companies such as Apple park piles of cash overseas to avoid paying tax. What’s worse is when foreign authorities change the rules that attracted the money in the first place, and tax those holdings for themselves.In effect, the European Commission is threatening to do just that. Apple and other US companies could soon be hit with retrospective demands for tax running into the billions of dollars. This week the Barack Obama administration objected, acc

The government’s 5.6 trillion-won ($5 billion) free school meals scheme has been found to be supplying improper lunches to many of the nation’s 6.14 million students.A government task force inspected between April and July some 2,400 food suppliers and lunch operators and visited 274 of the nation’s 11,700 elementary, middle and high schools that provide students with hot lunches.The team’s findings, released Tuesday, were disappointing and shocking. It has uncovered a total of 677 violations of

Escalating inter-party hostility threatens to kill the 11 trillion-won ($9.7 billion) extra budget bill, which is intended to ease the pain of corporate restructuring and stimulate the sluggish economy.The ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea and the minor opposition People’s Party at first agreed to pass the bill on Aug. 12. Then they delayed its passage to Aug. 22. As things stand now, they may not be able to act on it until the ongoing parliamentary session ends

France has been seized by a silly hysteria over the burkini, prompting me to wonder when Europeans will get serious about their Islamist challenge.For starters, what is a burkini? The word (sometimes spelled burqini) combines the names of two opposite articles of female clothing: the burqa (an Islamic tent-like, full-body covering) and the bikini. Also known as a halal swimsuit, it modestly covers all but the face, hands and feet, consisting of a top and a bottom. It resembles a wetsuit with a h

In the summer of 1954, during hearings prompted by his investigation of Communism in the U.S. Army, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy hit his professional nadir. Speaking to Joseph Welch, chief counsel for the Army, McCarthy accused a young lawyer who worked in Welch’s law firm of having been “a member of an organization which is named, oh, years and years ago, as the legal bulwark of the Communist Party.”Welch was stunned. “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or yo

NEW YORK -- To say that the eurozone has not been performing well since the 2008 crisis is an understatement. Its member countries have done more poorly than the European Union countries outside the eurozone, and much more poorly than the United States, which was the epicenter of the crisis.The worst-performing eurozone countries are mired in depression or deep recession; their condition -- think of Greece -- is worse in many ways than what economies suffered during the Great Depression of the 1

WASHINGTON, DC -- This month, I completed a two-week, six-stop tour of the Pacific, beginning with a visit to the United States Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. It was a fitting way to start the trip, a reminder that the US Army is critical to forming the foundation for security in the Pacific.The 25th Infantry Division, which in its early years earned the nickname “Tropic Lightning,” marks its 75th anniversary this autumn. The men and women stationed there -- and, indeed, all US soldier

More than broken buildings and twisted rebar, more than images of Su-34 bombers and pickup trucks toting soldiers armed with AK-47s, the face of Omran Daqneesh, 5, tells the story of Aleppo, Syria.In a photo taken after an airstrike hit his apartment building Wednesday, the dust-covered boy sits in an ambulance, staring blankly. The left side of his face is caked in blood. His left eye is nearly shut, his right eye appears encircled by a large bruise. His floppy hair is filled with dust, blood s

The leadership race of The Minjoo Party of Korea is following the path taken by the ruling Saenuri Party, which in its recent leadership contest ended up consolidating the hegemonic power of its mainstream faction that is largely unpopular outside the party. None of the Minjoo candidates — Choo Mi-ae, Lee Jong-kul and Kim Sang-kon — offer a vision for the party, which many liberals hope will be able to win back power at next year’s presidential election by defeating the conservative ruling party

North Korea poses a constant security threat to South Korea, yet recent developments call on us -- government and public alike -- to take extra caution against possible provocations from the rogue regime. Tension had already been running high on the Korean Peninsula since the UN imposed the harshest-ever sanctions on the North over its nuclear and missile provocations early this year. Adding to the tension is Seoul and Washington’s decision to deploy an advanced missile defense system in the Sou

Yangon is suddenly a city of phablets. Nowhere in Asia, let alone Europe, have I seen so many supersized smartphones in public spaces, and with such egalitarian appeal: Pavement vendors selling early 20th century British guides to English grammar seem as transfixed by them as Yangon’s smart set playing Pokemon Go.For many in an isolated country, a 4G smartphone is their first taste of modern consumer luxury. Its proliferation, in a country where a SIM card once cost more than $2,000, seems an ex

A special inspector Lee Seok-su, who has looked into a corruption scandal involving a senior presidential secretary, said on Monday that he would not step down from his post over information leak allegations.Lee, a government-appointed special inspector tasked with probing a civil affairs presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo, also said that he would clear allegations over any leak if there is any prosecutorial questioning. Local broadcaster MBC reported last Tuesday that Lee exposed details of t

Despite the agreement with the government of South Korea in late 2015, Japan has yet to halt its distortions of historical facts about the wartime sex slavery during the Japanese colonial rule of the peninsula.On the English website of its foreign ministry, a senior Japanese official again denied forceful mobilization of the so-called comfort women by its military and government authorities during World War II.Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama was quoted as saying that the Japanese gover

International crude prices, which retreated in July after a noteworthy rebound during the first half, are spiraling again this month.Dubai crude, which peaked at $48 per barrel on June 8, plunged to $38 on Aug. 2. But it has bounced back over the past few weeks to surpass $44 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude have touched $48 and $50, respectively.The recent trend hints that the era of $30-$25 per barrel, which came in early 2016, will not come again in the coming years, while

The political history of the US from the late 1830s through the 1850s is one long tragedy. President after president struggled to hold together an increasingly polarized nation. None served more than one term, two died in office -- and by 1860 the country was falling apart.We hear a lot these days that we’re in a new age of polarization, with measures of partisanship showing a divide greater than at any time since the Civil War. But there’s a striking difference: It’s pretty clear what the polar

On Wednesday, Indonesia celebrated its Independence Day with a bang -- blowing up several Chinese boats that had been caught fishing illegally in its waters and impounded. China doesn’t dispute Indonesia’s territorial claims, but Chinese fishermen have more pressing concerns. According to reports in Chinese state media this week, overfishing and pollution have so depleted China’s own fishery resources that in some places -- including the East China Sea -- there are virtually “no fish” left.That’

LONDON -- In the wake of the 1953 workers’ uprising in East Germany, the playwright Bertolt Brecht mordantly suggested that “if the people had forfeited the confidence of the government,” the government might find it easier to “dissolve the people and elect another.” It is a sentiment that resonates with many in the United Kingdom today, in the aftermath of June’s Brexit referendum.In the heat of the referendum campaign, Michael Gove, then the justice secretary and a leading member of the “Leave