Last year, American historian Walter Russell Mead identified the following traits of the current American and global discomfort: “ineffective politicians, frequent scandals, racial backsliding, polarized and irresponsible news media, populists spouting quack economic remedies, growing suspicion of elites and experts, frightening outbreaks of violence, major job losses, high-profile terrorist attacks, anti-immigrant agitation, declining social mobility, giant corporations dominating the economy,

Two major divorces are in the making in March. The obvious one is Brexit, which officially occurs on March 29. The other is the deadline for the US-China trade negotiations on March 1, when US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. Even though a trade deal is likely, as both sides want to have a deal and the market is expecting one, this will come down to the wire as the gap in what can be achieved in the deal is still daunting.　Both negotia

The Asia News Network notes with concern and alarm the arrest of Maria Ressa, executive editor and CEO of leading Philippine news site Rappler, for pursuing the truth in a case with significant ramifications for society.Her arrest, on grounds that raise concern, violates the freedom that media organisations need to have, to play their part as a key pillar of functioning democracies. This is particularly important in Asia where systems of democratic representation, accountability and legal recour

 Bangkok choked for weeks last month, as smog filled the air while military drones and fire trucks fought to bring pollution under control. Schools closed and people were encouraged to stay indoors while others armed themselves with masks. 　 Meanwhile, the government reached out to citizens to come up with more effective solutions.　 Pollution in major Asian cities has become a norm in recent years -- so much so that residents, visitors and policy makers take the situation for granted.　But the de

The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.So the late British prime minister and famed orator Winston Churchill is once supposed to have said.This year, many will be doing so, with major milestones and anniversaries being marked around the world -- 150 years since the birth of India’s Mahatma Gandhi; 50 years after American astronaut Neil Armstrong’s great lunar “leap for mankind”; 100 years since the May Fourth Movement in China.Singapore, too, looks likely to sp

In recent times the development discourse all over the world has been heavily influenced by the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015 for the year 2030.These goals are in the form of specific targets for key areas of development, protection of the environment and so on.If these goals are achieved, then these 15 years will be the most successful years of human history in terms of reducing distress. Hunger is to be almost eliminated, while poverty will be reduced greatly.

The Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech of 2018 marked the announcement of yet another scheme, this time pertaining to the ailing health care situation of India. The National Health Protection Scheme, dubbed “Modicare” is deemed to be one of the largest health insurance schemes in terms of extent and expense. The scheme can be seen as an extension of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana launched by the UPA government in 2008.Like RSBY, AB is targeted at poor, deprived rural families and ident

A senior Indian National Congress politician, Veerappa Moily, seeking to counter comments of the country’s air force chief on the Rafale aircraft, termed him a “liar.”This was because the air force chief’s comments were at variance with those of his party. P Chidambaram of the congress subsequently requested the army and air force chiefs stay away from the Rafale controversy, as their words were impacting the congress stand.Earlier another congress leader, Sandeep Dixit, had called the army chie

The World Trade Organization is to celebrate its 24th anniversary in January 2019. There is no better chance than today to assess the performance and outlook of the global organization.Such an evaluation is timely because the G-20 leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires in early December called for reforms in the WTO and also because of the global crisis stemming from the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China.To assess its future, we need to look into the histo

Moon Jae-in is Asia News Network's Person of the Year. For more on the finalists and runners up, please click this link here. In a few decades, when people look back on 2018, perhaps they will only remember one or two major headlines.In the field of diplomacy, they may remember the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un.If this were to happen it would be one of the biggest injustices of selective history and memory.Because without South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s ins

As the year draws to an end, 2018 was not a year of living dangerously, as most of us mere mortals want more than ever to live a quiet life. The year has also not been easy for any leader, as Theresa May knows all too well.Since the great recession of 2008, competition has been a race to the bottom in almost every sphere, but more so in politics. As competition guru professor Michael Porter wrote last year, “competition in the politics industry is failing America” (Harvard Business School, 2017)

The number of people living outside their country of birth is more than 250 million.Over 10 percent of these are refugees, distinct from migrants in that they are fleeing war or persecution, and by international law cannot be forcibly returned to their home countries. Around 1.4 million of these, primarily Afghans, reside in Pakistan (the overall number of Afghans in Pakistan is closer to 3 million).Recently, acknowledging the scale of global displacement, the majority of UN member states adopte

KUALA LUMPUR (The Straits Times/ANN) - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday (Nov 29) that he could not confirm that Malaysia's King, Sultan Muhammad V, was recently married, as widely reported and discussed on social media in the past week.According to online reports and supposed pictures of the wedding ceremony, the 49-year-old ruler was married earlier this month to former Moscow beauty queen Oksana Voevodina, 25."I don't have the name or official confirmation. I can't say anything

NEW DELHI -- According to the recent Hydropower Status Report, East Asia and the Pacific has the highest annual increase in hydropower capacity with China contributing the largest share of installed capacity. Over 90 per cent of the capacity added in 2017 in the region came from China, which increased its total installed capacity to 341,190 MW.Japan is second in the region with an installed capacity of 49,905 MW. It is followed closely by India with an installed capacity of 49,382 MW. In India,

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN) -- The Central Sulawesi administration has declared a 14-day state of emergency following an earthquake and tsunami that struck the province on Friday, says the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the state of emergency period was declared from Sept. 28 to Oct. 11.“As the administration has declared the emergency state period, it will be easier for both the regional and national government to mobilize personnel, log

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN) -- At least 20 participants and committee members of the Indonesia Open Paragliding Cross Country Palu Nomoni have been rescued after an earthquake, tsunami and mudflow devastated several areas in Central Sulawesi, while several others remain missing.Tagor Siagian, a public relations officer with the Indonesian Aero Sport Federation (FASI), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that 20 athletes, competition committee members and coaches had been rescued and had landed in

The death toll from the earthquake in Palu and Donggala, Central Sulawesi has risen to 832, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) announced on Sunday afternoon. Around 821 victims have been found in Palu, while the rest have been found in Donggala.The agency has also recorded that at least 540 people were injured by the earthquake and tsunami, and are currently being treated in hospitals. Meanwhile, 16,372 people are reportedly displaced and are currently occupying 24 camps around the r

BANGKOK (The Nation/ANN) -- Her dream of meeting and shaking hands with her South Korean idol may have come true but an indiscrete revelation of how she had accomplished the feat on her Facebook page has landed the fan in a soup and could end in her being jailed.The fan, along with another person, met Lee Jong-suk, 29, in a restricted area inside Suvarnabhumi Airport.Sirote Duangratana, the general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, on Sunday said that security camera footage showed that the incid

HANOI, Vietnam (Viet Nam News) -- Vietnam expects the growth of textile and garment exports to South Korea to continue until the end of the year after strong results in the first seven months of 2018, according to the General Department of Customs.Up until July, Vietnam showed an on-year increase of 24.88 percent in textile and garment export value to $1.5 billion to South Korea, marking a strong breakthrough in those products to the market.In July alone, the export value of those products to th

JAKARTA (The Japan News) -- An Indonesian couple named their daughter Asian Games, as she was born on Aug. 18, the day of the opening ceremony of the Games, one of the largest sports events ever held in Indonesia.“I am proud of her being born on the day of the Asian Games,” the girl’s father, Yordania Denny, 39, said at his home in Palembang, on southern Sumatra island. The Asian Games took place in Jakarta and Palembang until Sunday.Yordania Denny holds his daughter Adibah Asian Games at their