At the pump, consumers across the world are reliving the kind of price shocks that defined the oil crises of the 1970s. Petrol prices that hovered around 180 cents per litre in early 2026 have surged ...

In February 2026, the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, but he is now reconstructing his tariff wall using other statutes. Global market interventions ...

The 2026 Jakarta Treaty shifts Australia–Indonesia defence ties from functional cooperation to deeper strategic alignment, institutionalising high-level consultation while preserving both countries’ ...

British companies and investors are profiting from gold mining, gas extraction and palm oil plantations in West Papua, while the British government supports the Indonesian military through arms ...

Japan’s prostitution regime combines formal prohibition with regulatory tolerance, producing a system that criminalises solicitation while leaving buyers largely untouched. The arrests of women ...

Canada has grown unusually prominent in global headlines during US President Donald Trump’s second term. The country’s deep integration with the United States has put it at the front line of ...

Following a landmark Supreme Court advisory opinion that affirmed the lawfulness of the 2013 Constitution and narrowed the supermajority requirements to amend it, constitutional reform seems likely in ...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expanding chip production in Japan as part of a broader effort to diversify manufacturing beyond Taiwan. Japan’s appeal reflects a combination of ...

The Philippines has lost an estimated 42.3–118.5 billion Philippine pesos (US$713 million–2 billion) a year from flood control corruption since 2023. The scale of illegal wealth accrued by contractors ...

The Mekong Delta faces a slow-burning crisis as salinity spreads inland, damaging crops and eroding Vietnam’s food-production base. Fragmented policy responses lack a clear understanding of what ...

Vietnam’s economic rise has been extraordinary. The country has made a triple transition from central planning to a market economy, from import substitution to export-led integration and from extreme ...

In 2024, South Korea set another demographic record, with women marrying for the first time at a historic high average age of 31.6, while men did so at an average age of 33.9. Since 2021, more women ...