Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the Philippines was perceived as the next Asian Tiger economy and one of the most robust and dynamic economies in ASEAN and the wider East Asian region. Based on the World Bank's (WB) data and statistics, the country's average annual growth rate increased from 4.5 percent between 2000-2009 to 6.4 percent between 2010-2019.

The Indo-Pacific, which has multiple meanings from a country’s international strategic outlook to a wide area stretched from Indian to the Pacific Ocean, still retains its popularity among foreign policy practitioners and analysts to this date. Countries, such as the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, as well as a regional institution like European Union (EU), have declared the Indo-Pacific as one of their primary priorities in foreign policy.

As the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) aims to create a single market integration in Southeast Asia, rising energy demand arising from rapid economic growth will need to be addressed. According to the 6th ASEAN Energy Outlook, ASEAN’s energy demand will increase substantially by 146 percent by 2040. Aside from energy security issues, the aftermath of this rising energy demand is the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, potentially reaching 4,171 Mt CO2-eq in 2040.

With cities facing disastrous climate stresses and shocks in the coming years, one would think they would be rushing to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies.

As the pandemic enters its third year, questions about COVID-19’s origins appear increasingly distant. But if we are to forestall another coronavirus pandemic in the 21st century, understanding the causes of the current one is imperative.

The protests that erupted across Kazakhstan on 2 January quickly turned into riots in all of the country’s major cities. What do the protesters want, and what will be the outcome of the country’s most severe civil unrest since independence in 1991? Although the initial trigger was a doubling of fuel prices, the protesters soon demanded the dissolution of parliament and new elections.

On 1 January 2022, the world's largest trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), came into force. RCEP is a trade agreement involving the 10- member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their largest free trade agreement (FTA) partners, namely China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

My book, A World in Disarray, was published five years ago this month. The book’s thesis was that the Cold War’s end did not usher in an era of greater stability, security, and peace, as many expected. Instead, what emerged was a world in which conflict was much more prevalent than cooperation. Some criticised the book at the time as being unduly negative and pessimistic. In retrospect, the book could have been criticised for its relative optimism.

Novak Djokovic, the world’s top-ranking tennis player, has just been granted a medical exemption to take part in the Australian Open. Djokovic, who has won the event nine times (one more victory would give him a record-breaking 21 major titles), refused to show proof of vaccination, which is required to enter Australia.

The restrictive, illiberal trend that has come to characterise India over the last five years has a new data point. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government decided that Christmas Day was a good time to deny renewal of a license for the Missionaries of Charity to receive foreign funding. Founded by Mother Teresa, whom the Catholic Church canonized in 2016, this order of Christian nuns has been operating in the country since 1950.