In The News

China’s US Delisting Fears: Bloomberg

September 30, 2019
The Trump administration has considered removing Chinese firms from US stock listing, report unnamed officials. Then, a US Treasury statement suggested there are no plans for delisting at this time. China responded with assurances that it will continue to open its financial markets and encourage foreign investment, reports Bloomberg. “A U.S. crackdown on capital flows would present a new pressure...

Stateless People in Asia: DW

Rodion Ebbighausen September 27, 2019
Governments block citizenship for people whose families have lived in regions for multiple generations. India published a National Register of Citizens listing 31 million people in Assam province; those not on the list are considered migrants. “Any applicant unable to prove that they lived in the state before the March 24, 1971 deadline was considered to have ‘doubtful’ status,” reports Rodion...

Nursing Brain Drain: Inquirer

Michael L. Tan September 14, 2019
The Philippines educates and trains nurses for work overseas, but the number available for workplaces at home is sinking. Fewer people enter nursing or pass the board exams. Turnover rates are high with dissatisfaction over wages. “Between 2012 and 2017, 92,277 nurses left to work overseas,” explains Michael Tan for the Inquirer. “That’s more than the total number of nurses who passed the board...

Cooperation on Fukushima Water? Business Korea

Choi Moon-hee September 11, 2019
Consequences of the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan linger today. Fuel rods require ongoing cooling with freshwater. More than 1 million tons of contaminated water is stored in tanks including underground ones secured by walls of ice, 30 meters deep and 1.6 kilometers long. Treatment technologies remove 62 of 63 radioactive elements, reports Roger Cheng...

Arcane Agriculture Models: Manila Times

Ben Kritz September 7, 2019
Agriculture’s tremendous success in producing more food than the world needs with fewer resources is also reducing prices. Even as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization suggests that 30 percent of the world's food goes wasted, the agriculture industry represents an increasingly smaller share of economic growth and jobs for both advanced and emerging economies. The industry carries great...

Myanmar as Asia’s Last Frontier: Korea Herald

Jung Min-kyung September 5, 2019
Myanmar’s government opened its economy this decade, and South Korean firms see “economic potential and geographic attractiveness,” reports Jung Min-kyung for the Korea Herald. For example, Posco International, described as the trade and resources development arm of Korea’s leading steelmaker, has completed a rice processing complex in Myanmar’s rice-producing Ayeyarwady region. The facility...

Hong Kong Withdraws Extradition Bill: SCMP

September 4, 2019
Large crowds of Hong Kong protesters began organizing in mid-June soon after the government introduced a bill allowing extradition of criminal suspects to jurisdictions with which the city lacks a treaty, including China. Announcement of suspension on June 16 was not enough and spurred 2 million to take the streets in peaceful protest. Weeks passed and the protests took a violent turn with petrol...