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November 10th, 2022

Asia's age of precarity

War, inflation and inequality beckon an era of post-pandemic insecurity

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The Big Story

The precarity of progress: Asia confronts post-pandemic era of insecurity

Amid the Ukraine war and rising inequality, is economic development really making lives better?

Despite the locomotive of capitalism speeding nations worldwide toward better health and more wealth, recent data suggests most of us feel more insecure than ever.
Intel bought Tower Semiconductor of Israel for about $5.4 billion as part of its shift into contract chipmaking.   
Business Spotlight

How Intel plans to rival TSMC and Samsung as a chip supplier

Geopolitics could give U.S. tech giant's contract chipmaking strategy a boost

The closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 22. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)
Companies

China's companies rewrite rules to declare Communist Party ties

More mainland-listed companies acknowledge 'Xi thought' in corporate constitutions

Several Asian currencies have declined by 10% or more since the end of March. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)
Finance

Strong dollar fuels concerns of ballooning Asian debt

Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea see credit default swap rates climb

Flaring, or burning off gas from oil production, is a key emitter of methane -- the second-most common greenhouse gas and the most powerful one.
Asia Insight

Soaring methane emissions raise stakes for Asia at COP27

Poor nations face astronomical cost as cycle of warming, thawing spins out of control

A laborer pulls a car loaded with sacks of lentils at a grain market in Ahmedabad. The government has said the country's low rank on an index of global hunger is intended to "taint India's image."
Economy

India gets mixed marks on poverty, with hunger rank behind Pakistan

New Delhi slams 'misinformation' as other study hails 140m saved from destitution

Indonesian state electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara plans to sell some of its aging coal-fired power plants. (Photo courtesy of Perusahaan Listrik Negara).
Climate Change

Indonesia's new SOE scheme puts focus on coal phasedown

Investors skeptical over potential cost of deal amid broader clean energy push

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Angry over Beijing's reluctance to denounce Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, many countries in Europe are rethinking ties with China. (Source photos by AP and Reuters) 
International relations

How China continues to lose friends in Central and Eastern Europe

Refusal to denounce Russia's Ukraine invasion alienates allies in the region

Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, right, and former leader K.P. Sharma Oli will be leading their parties into this month's general election. (Source photos by Getty Images)
Politics

Nepal election features familiar faces, big vows: 5 things to know

Old guard expected to hang on in Nov. 20 polls despite signs of voter disillusionment

An honor guard raises the Chinese flag on the deck of the Shandong aircraft carrier in 2019: Without the harsh experience of large-scale combat, how an attack on Taiwan would unfold is an uncertainty for Beijing.
Opinion

Ukraine war will make China think twice about invading Taiwan

Uncertainty about sanctions, resistance and combat capability weigh on Beijing

U.S. President Joe Biden greets a worker as he arrives to speak about investments in infrastructure in Los Angeles on Oct. 13: Is it possible for unelected central bankers to ask the government in a democratic society to trim their fiscal plans?
Opinion

Spare some sympathy for central bankers

Favorable supply-side conditions are gone and fiscal activism poses challenge

Facade of Iwakura House: “This is my modern interpretation of an old machiya (town house),” says architect Hiroshi Nakamura. (All photos by Kohei Take)
Life

Elegant Kyoto home celebrates city's coveted craft traditions

Iwakura House is a modern interpretation of a 'machiya' town house

An “Asiatic Arcadia”: The city of Kaminoyama, in Yamagata prefecture, as seen from a nearby mountainside in July 2020. (Photo by Alice French)
Tea Leaves

Yamagata's lesson in post-pandemic tourism

Neglected Japanese prefecture rebrands to reach out to the world