[Asia Round-up] Slap in the face for women
Editor’s note: Followings are summaries of editorials from major Asian media on current issues. Slap in the face for women [India, Hindustan Times, 15-05-2013] After the huge demonstrations following the December 16 Delhi gang rape incident, many hoped that the police’s attitude toward crimes against women and women’s rights might change. However, the recent case of […]
Kaesong: A ‘hot potato’ for N. Korea
So far, the Kaesong industrial zone, the largest intra-Korean economic project, has survived three nuclear tests, a number of long-range missile launches and a few armed clashes on the Korean peninsula. All these have killed other undertakings, but the Kaesong industrial zone remained afloat against all odds. The history of the zone that began operating […]
Pakistan elections: A positive step toward democracy
Editor’s note: Pakistan elections held on May 11 have paved the way for the first transition from an elected government to another. G. Shabbir Cheema, Senior Fellow at the East-West Center, explains their implications. This past weekend’s national election in Pakistan marked a landmark event in the country’s 66-year history. For the first time, an […]
Savar tragedy opens eyes to labour issues in Bangladesh’s RMG industry
Rescue operation ends, leaves jolt for Bangladesh’s RMG industry Dhaka – The rescue operation to recover the bodies from the rubble of the collapsed nine-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar near Bangladesh capital Dhaka came to an end on Monday (May 13) evening after 20 days. A total of 1,127 bodies were recovered from the […]
In the animal kingdom, a sheep can’t be a king
In the animal kingdom, a sheep can’t be a king. The sentence written above was so simple, but the reactionary rage over reading it “from the Muslim Brotherhood” was so huge. It started when Mr. Ihab Al Salmawi prepared the English second term exam for the students of the secondary grade schools in the governorate […]
Yunus appeals for action on Bangladesh’s garment industry
Editor’s note: The microfinance pioneer and Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus says action is urgently needed to improve the conditions of four million Bangladeshi workers. In his writing as the first involvement since the incident, he calls on foreign clothes companies to fix a minimum wage for workers to prevent further tragedies. Yunus, an outspoken […]
Global epidemic of youth unemployment
Editor’s note: With the weakening of global economy, youth joblessness continuously grows. everywhere. It is said that the number of young people out of work globally is nearly as big as the population of the United States. According to UN’s labor agency International Labour Organization(ILO), 73.4 million people aged between 15 to 24 would be […]
[Asia Round-up] What Malaysians’ votes represent
Editor’s note: Followings are summaries of editorials from major Asian media on current issues. What Malaysians’ votes represent [Singapore, The Strait Times 07-05-2013] The intense run-up to Malaysia’s general elections of the ruling party Barisan Nasional and opposition party Pakatan Rakyat and the results too close to call signify changes in Malaysian politics. Barisan, which has […]
Grading America’s ‘Pivot to Asia’
Editor’s note: The ‘Pivot to Asia’ has been understood as one of the Obama Administration’s central foreign policy initiatives. Simply put, the pivot is meant to be a strategic ‘rebalancing’ of U.S. interests from Europe and the Middle East toward East Asia. But there are still lots of controversy over what does that really mean […]
How long will N. Korea’s regime last?
Three problems of young leader How stable is the North Korean government? Is it going to continue indefinitely? And if it does not, what is its life expectancy? The present author encounters those questions nearly every day. The only honest answer to such questions is that we do not know. There are two obstacles which […]