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Monday, April 20, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Asia Fires Warning Shots Over IMF Chief
Even if French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde secures the top post at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rumblings across Asia convey the message that the international lender's clubby custom of picking a European national to be its managing director smacks of discrimination.SINGAPORE: Social Media Challenges Govt Grip
Weeks after a watershed general election in Singapore, the influential role played by social media to dramatically transform political debate in this affluent city- state continues to reverberate through cyberspace.THAILAND: Red Shirts Reappear Ahead of Poll
Thailand faces a new phenomenon on the road leading to the Jul. 3 polls: an informal union between a strong opposition political party and a formidable street protest movement that may reshape this year’s political campaign.Military Looms over July Polls
Thailand’s powerful army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, appears determined to carve out a dominant role for the military in the coming weeks, as political parties seek to woo an estimated 45 million voters ahead of the general election on Jul. 3.SOUTHEAST ASIA: ASEAN in Quandary over Burma’s Request to Head Bloc
The new Burmese government’s request to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2014 has given its neighbours a political headache they have decided to put off dealing with till later this year.Food Price Hike Worsens Poverty in Asia
An annual meeting of Asian finance ministers and central bank governors in Hanoi is set to address the fate of 64 million people in the region on the brink of extreme poverty. They are the worst affected by soaring food prices, which have hit record highs in the first two months of this year.THAILAND: Debate on Monarchy Tests Academic Freedom
History professor Somsak Jeamteerasakul has weathered a storm of insults since mid-December for doing the forbidden: he offered an alternative assessment of the most dominant institution in the country, its monarchy, in a forum at his university. Now military officials are dropping hints he could face more than just verbal attacks.CAMBODIA/THAILAND: Diplomatic Breakthrough Elusive as Troops Clash on Border
A diplomatic deadlock between Thailand and Cambodia is ratcheting up already rising tensions between the two Southeast Asian countries, where a fresh round of border clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops has resulted in 12 deaths on both sides since Friday.THAILAND: Malaria Spreads Amidst Insurgency in South
A raging insurgency in Thailand’s southernmost provinces has become a breeding ground for another potential killer – the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito – that is threatening to wipe out the gains Thailand has achieved in fighting the disease.Polio Threatens Burma
A small army of volunteers from local non-governmental organisations has fanned out across Burma to inoculate 3.4 million children from a rare strain of the polio virus that has re-emerged three years after the country was declared polio free.BRICS to Show Its Weight at WTO
Despite political differences among member countries, BRICS has set its sights on global trade talks to assert its weight. Its declared aim: to secure economic benefits for developing nations.China’s Green Blueprint Raises Stakes at U.N. Climate Talks
China’s rise as a leader in the environmentally friendly, low-carbon economy is giving the Asian giant new diplomatic muscle for this year’s round of climate change negotiations leading up to the COP17 U.N. summit in Durban, South Africa in November.CLIMATE CHANGE: Developing Countries Step In Where Richer Nations Fear to Tread
Led by countries like Indonesia, 48 developing nations are rolling out a range of pledges to voluntarily cut their respective emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2020, the year climate scientists say the earth’s rising temperature should peak by if an environmental catastrophe is to be avoided.
CLIMATE CHANGE: World Bank Under Fire for Role in New Global Green Fund
The World Bank is facing mounting opposition from a broad network of green and grassroots activists over its role in a new global Green Climate Fund (GCF) aimed at helping developing countries combat the ravages of climate change.CLIMATE CHANGE: Uncertain Future of Kyoto Protocol Alarms Green Groups
With just seven months to go before a pivotal U.N. climate change summit in South Africa, green groups are raising the alarm here about the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s only international treaty that mandates most industrialised nations to cut their environment polluting greenhouse gases (GHG) to save the planet from overheating.In Cambodia, Women Fear Death at Childbirth
Death haunts women in this Cambodian village at a moment of happiness - when they give birth.Women in Garment Factories Help Cambodia Out of Poverty
Cambodia’s rise out of poverty continues to depend on the nimble fingers of young women like Khiev Chren.SOUTHEAST ASIA: Despite Japan’s Crisis, Vietnam Aims to Win Region’s Nuclear Race
Vietnam’s race to build nuclear power plants has barely skipped a beat despite the troubling scenes unfolding in Japan, where a nuclear nightmare has gripped the country for over a week. It places the Southeast Asian nation at odds with its regional neighbours who have similar plans but are urging caution.Vietnam, Laos Split Over Mekong Dam
The first in a new series of 11 dams planned across the Mekong, South-east Asia’s largest river, could break a special bond between two communist-ruled countries.HEALTH-BURMA: Global Fund Back With New Hope
Burma’s transition from an overt military rule to a civilian administration of retired generals is getting a shot in the arm from a former critic of the junta – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.Anti-Gay Laws Fuel HIV
Outdated laws that treat same-sex relations as a crime in a third of Asia-Pacific countries fuel fresh HIV infections, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM), a most vulnerable community.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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