India is leading as Asia’s fastest-growing large economy and it will continue to be on that track in early 2017 growing at 7.6 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank Outlook 2016 report.Myanmar continued its growth in 2016 despite witnessing a cyclone and intense rains that caused widespread flooding and landslides displacing over 1.6 million people, devastating one-fifth of all cultivated land, in 2015.The ADB’s flagship annual economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2016, sai

 

A record number of migrants reached Italy by boat from North Africa in 2016, according to official data, as pressure on Italy’s shelter and asylum systems grows. Italy has borne the brunt of the arrivals since the implementation in March of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants sailing for Greece. As of Monday, 171,000 migrants had reached Italy’s shores by boat, the Interior Ministry said, compared to the previous record of 170,100 for all of 2014.

Millions of people suffer from mental or neurological disorders in Asia, but the related health care is still not a priority in most Asian countries. In a ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan performed better than other countries in terms of making mental health care available. It was the first such ranking by the EIU. Based on the EIU’s study, the three nations ranked ahead of Japan, Malaysia and Thailand in terms of access to health care and social serv

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates South Korea’s average fertility rate at 1.3, the fourth lowest in the world.In its latest State of World Population report, the UNFPA said South Korea’s population growth rate stood at 0.5 percent, while the rate for the global population reached 1.2 percent. At the high end was Oman at 7.6 percent.China boasted the largest population of 1.38 billion, followed by India with 1.32 billion people, and the United States with a population of 324 million.The gl

  

To mark its second anniversary on June 29, the Islamic State group revealed a graph showing its worldwide network on Instagram, titled “Spread of Islamic State.”On the graph, Syria and Iraq are claimed to be its “areas of major control.” Libya, Nigeria, Egypt, Yemen, Chechenya, the Republic of Dagestan, Afghanistan, Niger, the Philippines and Somalia are claimed to be “areas of medium control,” while Algeria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Tunisia and France are labeled “areas with p

The number of refugees and others fleeing their homes worldwide has hit a new record, spiking to 65.3 million people by the end of 2015, the United Nations said Monday. Europe’s high-profile migrant crisis -- its worst since World War II -- is just one part of a growing tide of human misery led by Palestinians, Syrians and Afghans.Globally, close to 1 percent of humanity has been forced to flee.The figures, released on World Refugee Day, underscore the unprecedented global displacement crisis.

U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s highly publicized charges that South Korea has not been paying its fair share within the U.S.-R.O.K. military alliance has caused a political firestorm in the South, with Koreans almost universally expressing offense or alarm at his inaccurate and denigrating assertions. In a 2013 statement about extracting further payments for the ongoing American military presence in South Korea, Trump stated: “They’re rich because of us. … They sell us every