With Vietnam starting its chairmanship of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) this year, it is worth exploring ideas to reinvigorate and reenergize the bloc from a perspective of its citizens, specifically through the lens of its youth.Is the bloc capable of coming up with transformative and out of the box ideas that can match the aspirations of millions of youths living in Southeast Asia; offering them a vision, hope and a common platform to hone their skills for a shared prosperou

These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today. Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.

While ASEAN member countries race to seize market share amidst the renewable energy boom in the region, Indonesia - as the biggest energy user - does not seem to realise what its missing. Vietnam reached 5.5 gigawatt (GW) installed solar PV capacity in 2019 from only 134 megawatt (MW) in 2018. Thailand held the record both, for wind and solar capacity growth in 2018 before it was overtaken by Vietnam.

The increasing incorporation of technology into modern day workplaces has thrown a spanner in the works especially with the looming risks of jobs being lost to automation and artificial intelligence (AI) – effectively rendering old skills obsolete.

The COVID-19 pandemic started in the city of Wuhan in China. However, the once epicentre of the virus has closed all of its public facility-turned temporary hospitals on 10 March as the number of infected patients continues to decrease. According to local media in the country, life in China is gradually returning to normal since the lockdown.

One of the main concerns of enforcing nationwide lockdowns is the economic repercussions of the strict measures and the fear that it would have a lasting impact on social wellbeing and economic performance in the country. With China as the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, governments in ASEAN have now put stringent measures in place to contain it; threatening to stall economic growth in major markets.

These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today. Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.

On Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte widened a month-long quarantine of Luzon to the entire Philippines in what local media are calling a six-month state of calamity. It is inevitable that the move will stall business operations and economic growth.

These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today. Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.