It appears that Southeast Asia might face slower days ahead. The region’s predicted growth rate has been reduced to 4.7 per cent, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The revised forecast attributes the downgrade to political and economic road bumps in...
The inaugural United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the new governing council of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), saw representatives from all 193 UN member states gather together late last month for the first time. The adoption of the UNEA by the UN General Assembly last year,...
China has towed away its oil rig from disputed waters in the South China Sea ahead of schedule, insisting the rig simply completed work earlier than expected. Chinese officials claim an incoming typhoon prompted the departure, while Vietnam has moved its coast guard and patrol...
It was probably wrong to expect too much too fast when Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) environment ministers met to discuss the haze, caused by fires in Indonesia. Never mind that Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which hosted the meeting, have suffered record-high and hazardous levels...
Japan has increased defence spending for the first time in 11 years, relaxed decades-old, self-imposed arms export bans, and passed a constitutional reinterpretation, which would allow the Japanese military to aid allies overseas under the banner of “collective self-defence”. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is evidently...
Myanmar’s opening up has attracted much interest, not only from its Asian neighbours but also those in the West that once considered the country a pariah state. Recent events, however, suggest that Naypyidaw’s honeymoon with the United States and Europe may be waning over political issues....
In the wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s optimistic election campaign, investors are taking a close look at India’s new 2014/2015 budget, unveiled last week. Promising “good days” for India, the budget comes ahead of a new trade agreement due to be signed between...
In the infancy of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, alternately known as ISIS), most would have dismissed its influence on Southeast Asian security as tenuous at best. However, ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s recent declaration of a caliphate on June 27 has...
The newly-proposed fine for haze crimes is a crystal-clear sign of the Government’s determination to stop slash-and-burn tactics used by the agroforestry resource sector in land clearing. Announced in Parliament on Monday after a month-long public consultation, the toughened Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill penalises companies...
Harsher penalties will give the proposed Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill more bite, said Singapore Institute of International Affairs’ (SIIA) Deputy Director and Fellow Chua Chin Wei during an interview with Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on July 7, 2014, after Singapore’s Minister for Environment and Water Resources...