Effective and planned shoreline management would trigger activities for tourism, and support development of ocean and beach landscape, conserve biodiversity along with coastal people’s livelihood.

State-owned enterprises, including power utilities, in many countries have collected a menagerie of assets unrelated to their core business. And they are selling cheap.

‘Build back better’ is often easier said than done after a disaster, but one example from the People’s Republic of China shows that it can be done well. 

Involuntary resettlement can improve the lives of the resettled while reducing poverty and delivering results for development projects

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are working together to encourage the free flow of skilled labor within their countries. 

To understand fragility and resilience in Papua New Guinea, look to history and the people living in the country’s most vulnerable areas.

Here’s why the perception that skilled migration damages the source country is wrong.

India is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to disasters and it has a lot to share when it comes to preparing for them.

Quantum computing could change the face of many international development programs, including those involving transport, financial services and health care.

A landmark international agreement designed to eliminate violence and harassment in the workplace has been passed. Now comes the hard part.

The World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement provides a roadmap for developing economies to increase trade while also increasing the benefits it provides to their citizens.

A wealth of knowledge – knowhow and wisdom – rests with the officials, professionals, practitioners and communities. The challenge is to unleash the untapped power of this information.

Making it easier for workers to move between countries is key to liberalizing the trade in services and unleashing the benefits it will produce across national and regional economies.

In the Philippines, cloud-based technology is being used to address the financial exclusion that helps fuel poverty and inequality.

The idea that rural water schemes are only sustainable if small, simple and locally managed is a bias that must be overcome to get more clean water to the people who need it.

In the southern Philippines, a culture-based senior high school program is serving the Tboli community with an innovated approach to education.   

The Asia and Pacific region is aging rapidly, and that is affecting the region’s workforce, but increased longevity is adding an unexpected element to the picture

Bhutan is using an innovative financing system to ensure its citizens have access to quality affordable health care.

Southeast Asian economies are starting to feel the pinch of trade tensions, recession fears and other global trends.

Governments in the region need to invest more in prevention and response to the long-term impacts of disaster displacement.

Practical approaches can improve how we promote development research, and increase uptake by policymakers

There are three key strategies that can help Viet Nam achieve its ambitious development targets in the coming years.

Universal health coverage must be high quality to improve patients’ health outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic could be an opportunity to take a more holistic approach to health and well-being, invest in health systems and in resilient supply chains.

COVID-19 is uncharted territory but development professionals bring a wealth of experience from past crises to rebuild lives, livelihoods, and economies. 

COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of energy value chains but solar power could be an indigenous solution to keep the lights on during a crisis.

The surge in online learning in the People’s Republic of China during the coronavirus outbreak highlights the importance of infrastructure, platforms and the preparedness of teachers, students and parents.

In the fragile energy scenario of small Pacific islands, contingency plans are crucial to keep the lights on during a crisis.

The pandemic demonstrates that disasters are triggered by multidimensional risks and hazards, and that a country’s approach to urban resilience needs to be multifaceted.

The production processes and supply chains that feed into the production of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment must be secured.

The Asia-Pacific region has the expertise and resources to take a leadership role in not only developing a COVID-19 vaccine but distributing it to those who need it most.

The pandemic reinforces the need for reliable energy services to support healthcare. Clean, renewable power is a good place to start.

A forward-looking, regional approach is needed for countries in Central Asia to respond to the pandemic and prepare for future public health threats.

To reduce air pollution, national and city government policy makers, their development partners, academe, and the private sector need to work with young people. 

The historic spirit of cross-border trade in Central Asia is being revived in the energy sector.

NEW DELHI: Since the election results were announced last week — handing out a clear mandate to the Narendra Modi-led BJP — real estate brokers across the country have been prodding buyers to book their dream homes fast, since with a stable government on the cards, builders could increase prices any time soon. Business for thousands of brokers has been thin over the last year or so as negative sentiment engulfed the market and home sales tanked. Investors fled and genuine home buyers waited anxiously to see if a new stable government can infuse life into the economy. “It might just be a case of brokers trying to perk up […]

GURGAON: The managing director of real estate company Vigneshwara Group and two of his family members have been booked by Gurgaon Police in a multi-crore fraud case. Some estimates put the scale of the fraud at more than Rs 1,000 crore. Despite taking money from around 700 investors for properties in and around Gurgaon in 2006-07, and promising assured returns till possession, the group allegedly didn’t begin construction of some projects and defaulted on payments to investors. An FIR was filed at Sushant Lok police station against group MD Sunil Dahiya, his brother Sanjay and father Daryav Singh. Dahiya hasn’t been taken into custody yet because he complained of illness […]

NEW DELHI: Builders are scrambling to acquire cheap land and technology for low-cost housing after the government and central bank announced incentives for affordable housing, including cheaper loans to developers and buyers. Real estate companies including Tata Housing, ATS Infrastructure, Bhartiya Group and Anantraj Industries are busy sewing up land deals for projects in the Rs 5-20 lakh home segment. There is unlimited demand for homes in this segment, say experts. “There is a large market for such homes but a big supply constraint as well,” said Shailesh Pathak, executive director of the Bhartiya Group, which is planning to build 10,000 low-cost homes over the next two-three years on a […]

In early February, he was kidnapped for 24 hours, before he was freed by the police. A self-proclaimed prophet named Joe Williams is suspected of ordering the kidnapping.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has drafted the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 to curb the construction violations across the country. The new draft would replace the EIA notification 2006. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEFCC) has proposed a new set of environment clearance norms in its Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020. Earlier, the environment approvals to construction projects  were given as per the criteria stated in the EIA notification 2006; however, the new draft would replace the former set of rules. The Ministry has placed the EIA report in the public domain on March 12, 2020 and has sought views and comments […]

Few images conjure the 1930s Depression like people standing in soup lines while farmers dump food they can't sell. That is a tragedy Southeast Asia is fighting to avoid, though it is starting to happen in pockets around the world in the midst of COVID-19. Supply chain disruptions, driven by the pan...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Wednesday the German soccer league Bundesliga can resume playing later this month, ending a two-month pause prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Merkel made the announcement as one of a range of containment measures being relaxed, following a meeting with the c...

Online purchases rose by more than 11 percent on-year in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Statistics Korea said on Wednesday that total online transactions amounted to about US$10.3 billion, which accounted for about 28 percent of all retail sales, the highest proportion on record.Food was the main ...

North Korea is close to completing a missile storage facility near Pyongyang Sunan International Airport. The facility is "almost certainly related to North Korea's expanding ballistic missile program," the Beyond Parallel website at the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported Tuesda...

U.S. electronic cigarette maker Juul Labs is pulling out of the Korean market just a year after its launch here amid health concerns over its products.The company announced on Wednesday, "We decided to stop operations in Korea, and have notified sellers here."Launched in the U.S. in 2015, Juul, a li...

With the Korea Baseball Organization's regular season kicking off with no spectators allowed in the stadium, a large number of baseball fans have turned online to cheer for teams they support. The number of viewers who watched any of the five season opening games streamed online was 1.49 million in ...

Korean automakers announced dismal overseas sales in April, with Hyundai's plummeting 70 percent and affiliate Kia's 55 percent. The U.S. and European economies have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the total sales of Korea’s five automakers declined 51.6 percent on-year last ...

The National Intelligence Service here said Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not have any heart treatment as widely rumored before he resurfaced last week.In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, the NIS said Kim is believed to have conducted state affairs even when he was out of th...

The nominal Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who is in a vegetative state, remains Korea's richest man and one of only four Koreans on Bloomberg's list of top 500 billionaires in the world. The others are acting Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, Seo Jung-jin, CEO of biopharmaceutical company Celltrion, and K...

The Environment Ministry is fining Mercedes-Benz W77.6 billion for illegally tampering with emissions tests, the biggest fine ever for a carmaker here (US$1=W1,225). The ministry on Wednesday said Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Porsche tampered with the emissions of around 40,000 diesel cars sold in Kore...