In the country devastated by more than 10 years of war, there are very young children, even 13-year-olds, driving taxis or public transport. The hope of earning even small amounts of money to support impoverished families. UN: the crisis triggered by the conflict ‘has disproportionately and devastatingly affected women and girls’.
To keep growth at 5 per cent, Premier Li Qiang told the National People's Congress that the government would issue new treasury bonds to support consumer goods trade-in programmes. The deficit-to-GDP ratio rises to 4 per cent. In 2025, spending in education and scientific research will rise while defence spending is set to grow by 7.2 per cent. China’s response to Trump's new tariffs is for now limited to US agricultural products.
The island of Java is the most affected, where there has been a significant impact on the production sector. Among the companies in crisis is the clothing giant PT Sritex, with about 11 thousand layoffs in various departments and the non-payment of compensation since last August. The government is promising action but the 5% growth target for the first quarter of 2025 could be missed.
The international sanctions against Russia and Iran have allowed Azerbaijan to exploit its central position, and not only in geographical terms. The bet is on a large north-south transport corridor that would open the doors of the Indian Ocean to Moscow, from where it could circumvent any form of pressure.
Just one month after the launch of the new ‘made in China’ artificial intelligence prototype, municipalities and government officials are competing to adopt it in their offices. It is considered an important step forward in the realisation of so-called ‘smart cities’.
The state-owned oil giant is involved, with billions in losses. The Attorney General's Office has revealed a fraud related to the blending of fuels. Thousands of vehicles may have suffered serious damage. The malfeasance stems from serious lack in transparency and heavy political meddling.
In a letter released by the Catholic charity, 124 faith leaders call on the finance ministers of the richest countries in the world to take concrete steps to end the scandal of poor countries spending more on debt repayment than on health and education. The goal is to set up a UN Debt Convention and a public global debt registry.
The company Yandex has increased the percentages for taxi drivers, and has stifled all the other players in the market for the transport of people and goods (including Uber) in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The measures launched by the local antitrust agencies have been ineffective.
The Tajiks consider themselves the main heirs of the trade routes of centuries ago, of the ‘first Eurasian globalisation’ in history. But today, according to the political scientist Abdugani Mamadazimov, they are forced to play catch-up with their neighbours while the whole world looks to Central Asia as a crucial area of connections between East and West.
The Chinese president met today with the heads of leading digital companies. State TV showed Xi greeting Alibaba’s co-founder, the business giant forced to keep a low profile since 2020. The move comes as China’s economy struggles. “It is time for private enterprises and private entrepreneurs to show their talents,” Xi told his audience.
Southeast Asia expert Bridget Welsh analyses Kuala Lumpur's first steps at the helm of the bloc: the leadership will be successful if it puts ‘the interests of those who live in the region above those of its leaders’. ‘Calling for “inclusive elections” in Myanmar contradicts the real situation on the ground’.
Four international human rights NGOs lodged a complaint with the European Commission, saying that the human rights provisions in the 2019 Vietnam-EU free trade agreement were being ignored. They document 40 emblematic cases of men and women in prison for up to 20 years for their actions in favour of sustainable development and workers' rights.
Yesterday the former Thai prime minister made his first official outing as coordinator of a group of informal advisers to the head of the Malaysian government who is this year’s ASEAN rotating chairman. The former foreign minister of Singapore was also present. The Thai billionaire's knowledge of Myanmar’s situation and his business acumen underlie his role, but there is no shortage of critical voices.
Saudi Arabia will allow foreign capital to invest in Islam’s two holiest cities. Foreigners will be able to buy shares (up to 49 per cent) but direct ownership of real estate is excluded. Jordanian scholar Al Sabaileh told AsiaNews that with Mohammed bin Salman, the country is experiencing a "total change" with the economy dictating foreign and domestic policy choices. Peace with Israel would be a “gigantic step”.
Despite a 14.8 per cent rise over the previous 12 months, last year’s figures remain far from the record six billion domestic travellers reached before the pandemic. With upgraded transport infrastructure, more Chinese can discover new sites. The boom in Xinjiang is politically designed to promote sinicisation.
Clashes with Russia over northern territories is a constant in the history of the past centuries. But today there is no rush of Heilongjiang province residents to seek a home in Siberia at all. Rather, Beijing's advance is happening through the yuan, which is replacing the ruble in trade transactions. Natural resources the real issue at stake
Manufacturers in ASEAN countries are concerned about what might happen if a trade war with China breaks out once the US president takes office in a few days. The fear that Chinese products that no longer take the road to the West could be dumped in their markets, already grappling with tough competition from the “Made in China”.
The government imposed a P58-a-kilo maximum suggested retail price for higher quality outsourced rice, but for some stakeholders this is insufficient. In the fourth quarter of 2024, hunger reached levels not seen since 2020, involving about Philippine household one in four.
The pact was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mishustin on a visit to the Vietnamese capital. Cooperation agreements also in the digital economy and wireless communications. The aim is to strengthen bilateral trade, which between the two countries amounted to just .6 billion in 2023. Moscow seeks new markets to circumvent Western sanctions.
The water plant will be built in cooperation with a French group and will provide 300 million cubic metres of drinking water. It will be the country's largest infrastructure serving three million citizens; four years to completion. It will replace an earlier project studied with Israel that was supposed to connect the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.
The government in Colombo has run for cover by buying 35,000 tonnes from India, but in many areas of the country prices have skyrocketed and bad quality salt is being sold. The producers justify themselves with the floods, but workers and nutritionists recall that not even the tsunami 20 years ago led to such a crisis.
Asel Tasmaganbetova, daughter of Imangali, the secretary of the Csto Eurasian alliance and one of the country's most prominent politicians, has launched a line of cosmetics that she advertises as an expression of the ‘authentic Kazakh spirit’.
In order to reduce foreign borrowing, Kyrgyzstan plans to collect more than USD 1.1 billion from the population. While its budget is periodically refinanced with huge sums, raised as a result of anti-corruption campaigns.
Twenty-five years after the 2000 campaign, Pope Francis marks the Jubilee relauncing an appeal in the footsteps of from John Paul II to forgive loans to those who cannot repay them. The denunciation of a UNCTAD report: ‘Worldwide 3.3 billion people live in countries forced to pay more money for interest on debt than for education and health. The South of the world has paid the heaviest bill for the crises’.
The authorities continue to claim that the target of GDP growth of ‘around 5%’ driven by electric car exports will be met in the year to come. But discontent remains widespread and even the anti-corruption crackdown in the Party is fuelling paralysis especially among senior cadres. While worrying analyses by two well-known Chinese economists have been taken off social media.
Demand is growing in Europe, especially in the health and long-term care sectors. Migrants’ contribution to the Philippine economy is critical, but they need legal protection and support, as well as repatriation plans in case of need. In 2023, remittances hit a record US$ 37.2 billion, or 8.5 per cent of GDP, the largest amounts coming from the United States, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
The former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, despite having handed over the office to his son Serdar, still glories in the title of ‘father of the fatherland’ and in his honour, a brand new smart-city is being built under the name Arkadag. And he has called for the construction time to be shortened so as to settle a greater share of new inhabitants and attract more investment
The United Nations releases new report on migration in Thailand, five years after the last taking stock of the situation. Despite its ongoing economic crisis, thousands of people continue to arrive from neighbouring countries. While some progress has been made, working conditions and social assistance for migrants remain a problem. People fleeing Myanmar’s civil war are another major issue.
The government of Colombo announces a plan to make the management of representative properties economically advantageous. A symbolic gesture in a country that has just renegotiated its debt with the International Monetary Fund.
Even mayonnaise at the holidays this year will be 13.5 per cent more expensive, while the real savings of citizens are shrinking despite growth figures inflated by warlike industrial production. China takes note of the liberation of large market spaces and tries to occupy them while avoiding risks as much as possible.
