East Asia

Did A Coronavirus Hit East Asia 25,000 Years Ago?

An ancient coronavirus, or a closely related pathogen, triggered an epidemic among ancestors of present-day East Asians roughly 25,000 years ago, a new study indicates.Analysis of DNA from more than 2,000 people shows that genetic changes in response to that persistent epidemic accumulated over the next 20,000 years or so, reported David Enard, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, 8 April at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthr

15 April 2021
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America’s Allies After Trump

America’s allies should be forgiven if they are confused about where American foreign policy is headed. Who isn’t, given the go-it-alone recklessness of Donald Trump’s presidency? Over the past three years, Trump has sowed strategic chaos, and his foreign policy, if one can call it that, brought new meaning to incoherence. President-elect Joe Biden will be better almost by default.

11 November 2020
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Singapore seizes tanker over alleged Shell oil theft

Singaporean authorities have arrested 17 men for allegedly stealing fuel from a major Shell refinery, and have also seized an oil tanker and millions of dollars in cash, police said.The suspects, aged between 30 and 63, were detained in raids across Singapore on Sunday after the Anglo-Dutch energy giant lodged a police report in August.

9 January 2018
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The shift in the East Asian order

Talks about the “Quad” – a four-way security dialogue between the US, India, Japan and Australia – has resurged since it was first championed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. This time, it centred around the notion of a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”What the term, “Indo-Pacific” popularised by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Asia entails is still not set in stone.

24 November 2017
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Trump lauds Asia trade wins and red carpets

Donald Trump on Monday lauded his trade achievements during a five-nation tour of Asia, promising he would reveal "far bigger" steps when he returned to Washington.The US president has frequently bemoaned what he calls "unfair" international trade deals and a perceived lack of respect for America and its leaders.But standing alongside the prime ministers of Japan and Australia in Manila on Monday, he said that was all changing."The way they've treated us, the res

13 November 2017
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When Abe's dreams come true

Exit polls indicate that Shinzo Abe has won a landslide victory in Sunday’s snap polls. The Japanese government coalition led by his Liberal Democratic Party swooped 312 seats, allowing it to retain a two thirds "super-majority" in the Japanese Diet. The main item on Abe’s agenda – now that he has a firm control of the parliament – is amending Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist constitution.

23 October 2017
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