By 29 July, according to the sustainability organisation Global Footprint Network, humanity will have used up the Earth’s resource budget for the entire year. This “Earth Overshoot Day” has moved forward by an astonishing two months in the past 20 years and in 2019 it will arrive earlier than ever. Although humanity’s increasing environmental impact manifests itself in many ways, climate change has the broadest and longest-lasting effects.

The word “migration” conjures images of war, natural disaster, and severe economic distress. All are important reasons why people seek refuge far from home. But the single most powerful driver of migration may well be food – or, rather, the lack of it.As of 2017, some 821 million people worldwide – about one in every nine – faced chronic food deprivation.

50 years after astronauts first walked on the Moon, space wars have gone from Hollywood fantasy to looming threat. Not content with possessing enough nuclear weapons to wipe out all life on Earth many times over, major powers are rapidly militarising space. Given the world’s increasing reliance on space-based assets, the risks are enormous.As with the Cold War-era Space Race between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union, the new global space race has an important symbolic dimension.

United States (US) President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have agreed at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Osaka to resume trade negotiations, but the path to ending the trade war remains far from clear.

From infrastructure damage caused by extreme weather events to drought-induced food insecurity, there are many climate risks for which the world should urgently be preparing. But one of the areas where climate change poses arguably the most significant risk is barely being discussed: human health.When natural disasters strike, the death toll from floods, famines, or building collapses is often just the beginning; the sickness and disease that follow sometimes do far more damage.

The United States (US) Department of Homeland Security has fined several companies for evading President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China by rerouting them through Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ).

The leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries head to Osaka this week for their annual summit. United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres will address them before traveling to Abu Dhabi to finalise the arrangements for September’s UN Climate Action Summit. These meetings should set the world on course for the fastest economic transition in history.

Virtually every country worldwide has committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030, as part of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But some countries are progressing much faster than others in delivering equitable access not only to health services, but also to affordable medicines and vaccines. Among those leading the pack is Vietnam.Today, 87.7 percent of Vietnam’s population – or 83.6 million people – are covered by health insurance.

The United Nations (UN) expects 68 percent of the world’s population to live in urban areas by 2050. As governments scramble to manage this flood of urban migration, they must address not only basic needs such as housing and employment but also issues impacting liveability and public health – including air pollution.Nowhere is this challenge more urgent than in Asia. In recent months, cities like Bangkok, Seoul, Kathmandu, and Dhaka have faced major pollution events.

Since the Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago, China has achieved extraordinary economic development. Yet, contrary to the expectations of many Western leaders and analysts, the country has not gradually embraced press freedom or respect for civil rights.