Nations across the globe hit new pandemic highs and reimposed COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday as G20 finance ministers meeting in Venice warned the economic recovery was threatened by variants and uneven vaccination campaigns.The highly transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, is sweeping the world as countries race to inoculate their populations to ward off fresh outbreaks and allow for economies and daily life to resume."The recovery is characterised by great divergences

From South Korea to Australia, authorities are struggling to contain the highly transmissible coronavirus strain that has caused a surge in UK, Europe and the United States (US). Countries throughout Asia Pacific – from South Korea to Australia – have been hit by a rise in coronavirus infections as the Delta variant threatens a new wave of the pandemic even in a region renowned for tackling the virus with a high degree of success.China reported 57 new coronavirus cases in the mainlan

5 June was World Environmental Day (WED). It is an annual celebration and the springboard of the United Nations (UN) in facilitating awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

With the passing of Prince Philip on 9 April, the United Kingdom (UK) may have lost its last exponent of the stoic attitude that has defined so much of its modern history. Nonetheless, other cultures have picked up the baton, and modern society will always have a need for those who excel at keeping calm and carrying on.The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband to the queen, was long celebrated (or parodied) for his distinctive personality.

North Korea fired several missiles just days after a visit to the region by the top United States (US) defense and diplomatic officials, the White House said Tuesday, in Pyongyang's first overt challenge to the Biden administration.But administration officials, speaking anonymously, downplayed the missiles as "common" military testing and said they would not block Washington's efforts to engage with North Korea on denuclearisation.Two missiles were fired on Sunday, they co

North Korea severed diplomatic ties with Malaysia on Friday, abruptly ending a once-close relationship that soured following the assassination of Kim Jong Un's half-brother in a Kuala Lumpur airport four years ago.Pyongyang's foreign ministry said it was responding to Malaysia's extradition of a North Korean citizen to the United States (US) this week – a move it labelled an "unpardonable crime" carried out under "blind obedience" to US pressure.Malaysia had

With 2021 still young, and hope in the air thanks to new COVID-19 vaccines and a new occupant in the White House, we can finally stop covering our eyes in horror and peer furtively into the future. As the decade unfolds, which countries are likely to be the biggest economic success stories?

One week into the job, United States (US) President Joe Biden has sent a clear warning to Beijing against any expansionist intentions in East and Southeast Asia.In multiple calls and statements, he and his top security officials have underscored support for allies Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, signalling Washington's rejection of China's disputed territorial claims in those areas.On Wednesday, Biden told Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that his administratio

Secretary of State Antony Blinken got to work Wednesday with a warning that the world's eyes were on the United States (US) to see if it can heal deep divisions.Blinken, a veteran diplomat and confidant of President Joe Biden, promised to rebuild morale and respect in a welcome ceremony at the State Department front entrance that was extraordinary for what was lacking – crowds.With COVID-19 raging, Blinken asked that only a bare minimum of employees, all masked, come to see him – and not

The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on 15 November, 2020 marks a milestone for East Asian regionalism. It shows ASEAN’s determination to unify existing ASEAN+1 trade agreements and to showcase the bloc’s central role in regional cooperation. As former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa noted recently, the RCEP was “a response by ASEAN leaders to a series of initiatives that did not provide for ASEAN centrality”.