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Pakistan has continued to suffer from record flooding that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others, as the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres called for the international community to provide financial support to the nation. The government of Pakistan estimated a financial loss…
A school garden in Cambodia has been providing hungry children free meals, helping to reduce dropout rates. The Southeast Asian nation has been grappling with food insecurity and inflation, worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The UN World Food Programme has sponsored over 1,000 schools in C…
Residents in the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir have welcomed the opening of its first cinema multiplex in over 30 years. Movie houses were all but closed after a fundamentalist insurgency took power in 1989 and after one person was killed in a cinema attack in 1999. The owner of the new cinema complex hopes…
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Hongkongers living in England on British National (Overseas) passports were reportedly among about 150 protesters who marched through a busy market in the northwestern city of Manchester on September 4, 2022. More than 100,000 people from Hong Kong are seeking a new life in the UK under the BN(O) scheme that promise…
Philippine President Ferdinard Marcos Jnr embarked on his first official visit as the country’s leader by travelling to Indonesia to meet with his counterpart Joko Widodo on September 5, 2022. The son of elder Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines for two decades, pledged to strengthen cooperation with Indones…
People rushed to local markets to stock up on food and essential supplies on September 1, 2022, as China’s southwestern city of Chengdu became the second megacity after Shanghai to be locked down in 2022 to fight an outbreak of Covid-19.
The International Monetary Fund has preliminarily agreed to a US$2.9 billion conditional bailout for Sri Lanka. The proposed four-year programme would boost government revenue, encourage fiscal consolidation, introduce new pricing for fuel and electricity, hike social spending, bolster central bank autonomy and rebu…
China’s Pinglu Canal project was launched on August 28, 2022, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China. Expected to be completed in 54 months, the project is an important part of a new land-sea corridor connecting inland regions in southwestern China with Guangxi’s coast and cities bordering Vietnam. Lo…
Demand is rising for gig workers to handle chores like tidying up in China, where a growing number of people in the world’s most populous country turn to home organising companies. Nearly 19,000 companies in China now offer such services, with about 11,000 registered as recently as 2019, reflecting a boom in a speci…
China’s southern technology hub of Shenzhen shut down Huaqiangbei district, home to the world’s largest electronics wholesale market, as local authorities strengthened measures to contain a fresh Covid-19 outbreak, causing new disruptions to local supply chains. The four-day closure is expected to last until Septemb…
Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou have extended the opening hours of local amusement parks to promote nighttime tourism in China’s key economic hub. The move is part of recovery efforts to help boost the local economy that has taken a hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.
China’s southwestern Sichuan province has been sweltering under a record heatwave. The region has seen over 40 degree Celsius (104°F) temperatures since early August 2022, which has lasted for nearly a month. In one of the worst-hit areas in Dazhou, in eastern Sichuan, rivers have dried up as a result of the heatwav…
Once considered low-status for many, car boot sales have made a comeback in China as people who lost their jobs or closed down their businesses seek new ways to make a living and work around the country’s strict Covid-19 policies. What was once looked down on in Beijing is now one of the most popular activities amon…
China is eyeing a bigger role in the Middle East. The world’s second-largest economy has been pumping money into the reconstruction of Iraq and in the process is filling a power vacuum in the region since the withdrawal of US forces from the country.. Under a 2019 oil-for-construction deal, China has been funding in…
Sri Lanka police fired tear gas and a water cannon at a protest on August 18, 2022, to break up the first demonstration since the crisis-hit island nation lifted a state of emergency on May 20. An unprecedented economic collapse has sparked large anti-government rallies after months of hardship caused by shortages o…
A wholesale market in Mexico’s capital is sparking a greener future as work begins on turning its idle rooftops into a sprawling solar farm. Workers had started to install in August 2022 the first lot of photovoltaic panels, manufactured in China, atop shops at the Central de Abasto in Mexico City. The nearly US$20-…
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About 2.3 million more people in the Philippines have been pushed into poverty between 2018 and 2021, largely due to the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the country’s statistics agency. Recently inaugurated President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr aims to slash the poverty rate to nine per cent…
Pakistan’s statistics bureau announced on August 1, 2022, that the country’s annual consumer price inflation reached 24.9 per cent in July, the highest in 14 years. What does that mean for one of the country’s most popular fried snacks? In 2021, the relatively cheap and tasty puri snack cost around 20 Pakistani rupe…
Live | As it happened: Xi says Hong Kong’s unique status and advantages must be upheldPresident says one country, two systems must be executed comprehensively, with China having overall jurisdiction but city enjoying high degree of autonomy. He also stresses need for patriots in office and upholding of city's free e…
China’s strict Covid-19 measures have forced many restaurants, factories, and other employers to close, while other businesses have cut jobs or wages. It’s estimated that 11 million young people in the country are struggling to find work in a market where there are only half as many jobs for every fresh graduate. Ev…
The nights are abuzz once again in parts of China, where diners and partygoers are venturing out despite the nation’s determination to stick to a zero-Covid policy. A report by Chinese data company iiMedia Research has projected that the nation’s nighttime economy will grow to about 40 trillion yuan (US$6 trillion) …
People stuck in “China’s Hawaii” following a new Covid-19 outbreak have been keeping busy by helping authorities tackle the latest Covid surge. At least 80,000 tourists were stranded in Sanya after travel restrictions were imposed on August 7, 2022. Officials had flown 125 tourists out of the resort city in the sout…
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Over the past two decades, real estate has grown to become a pillar industry in China, accounting for about 13 per cent of the country's GDP by the end of 2021. But for about three years, many real estate developers have been unable to complete residential projects because of funding shortfalls, as the nation’s econ…
Thailand’s cannabis market is expected to bloom to US$3 billion over the next five years, and already the industry is taking root on weed-infused items offered by restaurants and cafes as well as health products like toothpaste and soap. The latest example is cannabis bubble tea brewed up by a shop in Chonburi provi…
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Former US president Donald Trump returned to Washington for the first time since he left the White House 18 months ago. In a July 26, 2022 speech at a political conference organised by his supporters, Trump said that inflation and petrol prices had been lower when he left office and predicted that Republicans would …
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said that the city’s property market will remain stable despite rising interest rates. In an exclusive interview with the Post, Chan revealed that the government will announce details of the Strategic Tech Fund in August 2022. The finance chief said the new investment fu…
Hong Kong to revise GDP forecast downwards: finance chief Paul Chan
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr gave his first national address on July 25, 2022, promising to reform taxes, upgrade infrastructure and transform agriculture. He also vowed no further Covid-19 lockdowns despite a recent uptick in cases. Ahead of his speech, thousands of activists marched to voice concerns …
Indonesia is the largest developing economy in Southeast Asia, with a gross domestic product of over US$1 trillion. The country’s size and location have made it Indonesia an attractive strategic partner for China and the United States to influence the Asean region. Indonesia has attempted to remain neutral in the Ch…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other inflation pressures have caused a spike in the cost of ingredients used to make a breakfast staple in the Philippines. The soft, buttery rolls called pandesal or “salt bread” are also known locally as “poor man’s bread” because they are so inexpensive. But their low price has f…
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Hong Kong’s classic green and white Star Ferry has been carrying passengers between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for more than 120 years. But in March 2022, the company announced that it had lost more than HK$70 million (US$8.9 million) over the past two years, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2019 social unrest…
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Sri Lanka has endured a months-long economic crisis that has seen rampant inflation and civil unrest. The country defaulted on its foreign debts for the first time in its history and its people have faced shortages of fuel, medicine and other essentials. According to the World Food Programme, nearly five million peo…
More than 1,200 bakeries across South Korea shut their doors during the first half of 2022 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a price spike for essential ingredients including wheat, flour and cooking oil. Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat and cooking oil until the war cut off supplies, and South Korea is al…
A record-breaking three-day heatwave has gripped vast regions of China, including the financial hub of Shanghai, since July 12, 2022. Temperatures reached a staggering 40°C (104°F) in more than 90 Chinese cities on Wednesday. Temperatures are forecast to continue exceeding 40°C (104°F) through July 17, 2022, accordi…
Celebrations broke out at protest sites in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on July 14, 2022, after demonstrators learned that Gotabaya Rajapaksa was resigning as president. Activists who had called for the president and prime minister to resign for mismanagement of the nation’s economy danced and sang, and demonstrat…
A video of a five-year-old girl carting around a US$75,000 camera to film a school wildlife project has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms. Meng Meng often follows her photo-videographer father when he goes shooting. The little girl could pan the camera and accurately focus on two turtles climbing onto a r…
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Victims of what could be one of China’s worst financial scandals were surrounded by local police and beaten by a group of unidentified men during a protest on July 10, 2022, in central Henan province. About 1,000 demonstrators protested outside a branch of the People’s Bank of China in the city of Zhengzhou, seeking…
Protesters in Sri Lanka stormed and occupied the residences of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 9, 2022. Thousands had taken to the streets of the capital Colombo earlier in the day to demand the resignations of the men who have faced months of protests amid accusations th…
Anti-government protests continued across Sri Lanka on July 6, 2022, amid the country’s worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. Young people and opposition supporters have been demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for months, whose attempts to save the economy have failed to end th…
China’s Covid-19 pandemic infection cases have continued to climb since a fresh outbreak began in early July 2022, with 24 cases detected nationwide on July 6. Shanghai launched another round of mass testing in nine districts after detecting new cases on July 5, fuelling concerns that China’s financial hub may once …
From Mumbai in Western India to Assam state in the north, much of the country was under water on July 5, 2022. Life was brought to a standstill by torrential monsoon rains in Mumbai, the country’s financial hub, as commuters waded ankle-deep through flooded streets and businesses were closed. Meanwhile, millions of …
