The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to strengthen programs and policies affecting older persons both in times of crisis and afterward.

With the impacts of the pandemic on food and nutrition being felt around the region, planning is needed to avoid higher food prices, decreased nutrition and reduced food security. 

For many of Indonesia’s urban poor who work in the informal sector, social distancing is nearly impossible if they want to maintain their income. Two key policies can help.

The pandemic provides an opportunity for regional financial cooperation on reforms to make Asian banks more resilient to crises.

Now is the time to ramp up actions on resilience so that society can beat the COVID-19 crisis while reducing the impact of climate threats.

With timely and well-targeted programs, policy makers can prevent the health crisis from deepening into a wider economic and financial crisis. This could sow the seeds of economic recovery.  

These charts illustrate how Asian and global stock markets reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic, with market reaction closely following local outbreaks and then moving in unison with global markets amid other shocks.

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

Bold action is required by policymakers and central bankers to keep the region’s economies afloat and contain the pandemic.

As the pandemic continues, the supply chains producing vital personal protective equipment are starting to fail, causing shortages. Countries and international organizations can fill these gaps by working together.

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

Investments in climate-resilient infrastructure should be the centerpiece of the billions of dollars in economic stimulus being used to rebuild Asia’s economies.

A gender-sensitive response is crucial to this global health emergency.

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

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 […]

Trinidad and Tobago loves its "heights" -- and a skilful cyclist on a homemade bike that reaches 10-12 feet in height does not disappoint.

Tens of thousands of Hongkongers are participating in flash mob performances of the new protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” in the streets and in shopping malls across the city.

The Central Government has approved around 93 percent of the total planned housing units under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). By far, as many as 1.03 crore housing units have been sanctioned across the country under the said scheme. To provide affordable pucca houses to the homeless population of the country, the Central Government has approved over 1 crore houses in urban parts of the country under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U). Against the humongous target of 1.2 crore units, the Government has sanctioned nearly 1.03 crore units across the States and Union Territories (UTs). Of the approved units, approximately 61 lakh units are under-construction and nearly […]

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has proposed a penalty of threefold property tax on residential structures lacking the Occupancy Certificate (OC). As the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) plans to levy threefold property tax on residential structures lacking the Occupancy Certificates (OCs), it may affect as many as 90 percent of the buildings in the city. Tukaram Mundhe, Commissioner, NMC, avers that the occupancy certificate is mandatory as per the building byelaws stated under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966. Therefore, all the building owners should obtain OC to avoid penalties. Nagpur has around 3,000 buildings that were served notices under the MRTP Act, but penalties were not levied until […]

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...

The United States is rallying support to back Taiwan's observer status in the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, leading into its annual meeting May 17-21."Today, I want to call on all nations, including those in Europe, to support Taiwan's participatio...

Two people had the dubious distinction of being the first to wear electronic tags on their wrists for violating quarantine rules. Health authorities said the two were wearing the devices from 6 p.m. Tuesday and will have to keep them on for the rest of their self-quarantine period. One was caught in...

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...

K-pop boy band Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS, will give speeches during a virtual commencement event along with global figures including former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, and pop star Lady Gaga. "Dear Class of 2020," organized by YouTube, will be streamed on June 6 to celeb...

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 Bundesliga soccer season will resume on May 16 in empty stadiums, picking up right where it left off two months ago amid the coronavirus pandemic.Thursday's announcement comes one day after clubs were told the season could restart following a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and t...

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday as investors appeared more optimistic about an economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were all up 1 percent.  For the tech-heavy Nasdaq, Thursday's close put it back in positive territory for the first time ...

The Trump administration is defending its decision not to release a detailed coronavirus reopening plan for the U.S., maintaining they would have been too narrowly-focused for the country's 50 states.The administration's defense comes in response to an Associated Press report that it shelved a repor...

Korea's exports of coronavirus test kits last month amounted to more than US$200 million, or eight times the month before, according to the Korea Customs Service on Thursday.They were exported to 103 countries.Brazil imported US$30 million worth of test kits, which is the biggest proportion of 13 pe...

Tours to the border truce village of Panmunjom could resume as early as next month.Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul told reporters Thursday that improved security measures will ensure that tours can resume on a trial basis after they were suspended last October as a preventive measure against Afri...

Genres: Thriller Running Time: 106 min. Directed by: Francis Annan Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ian Hart Synopsis: Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, Escape From Pretoria is a race-against-time thriller set in the tumultuous apartheid days of South Africa.

Actress Choi Ji-woo posted a handwritten letter with a photo of herself showing her "baby bump" on her fan site on Thursday. "I now have 15 days left before my baby's due date. I took a selfie in front of my house. As I got pregnant at a late age and am preparing for delivery amid the coronavirus ep...

The KLPGA Tour has raised the total purse for its first major championship of the season, which resumes next week after a break of several months due to the coronavirus epidemic.The KLPGA said Thursday that it decided to raise the prize money for the KLPGA Championship from W2.3 billion to W3 billio...

Eastar Jet is expected to lay off dozens of workers after a voluntary retirement program drew only around 60 applicants. The troubled budget carrier decided last month to lay off 22 percent of its 1,600 employees, and now its takeover by Jeju Air has been delayed, savings are even more urgent. Accor...

The government will stockpile 100 million face masks to prepare for a second wave of coronavirus but will also send them to about 70 countries in need."We've already allocated the budget necessary to stock up 100 million masks," Minister of Food and Drug Safety Lee Eui-kyung said Thursday. "Some 70 ...

Time stops for no man, but there are many proven methods to help people stay younger or younger-looking, from healthy lifestyles to lotions and potions. Here are some of the most successful. ◆ Don't Smoke and Contain Stress The best way to slow down the aging process is to stop unhealthy habits. Exp...

A luxurious estate in Boulder's Knollwood neighborhood is on the market for $7.5 million.

Colorado Springs is the beachhead. But it's always been clear In-N-Out Burger planned to feed its fanatical following along the Front Range by building more than just the one restaurant coming to that city in 2020.

Imagine zipping down a 750-foot zipline over your private lake, then taking in the beautiful Colorado views from the comfort of the expansive front porch of your log home.

Islamabad : Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Friday resented massive fee hike by the Lahore University of Management Sciences and declared it unacceptable.In a couple of tweets, the minister said he had seen reports that the LUMS had increased its fee by 41%."If true, this is...

Rawalpindi : The Rawalpindi Police with assistance of other security institutions staged a flag march in the city to create awareness among public on prevailing alarming situation due to coronavirus pandemic and preventive measures adopted by the Punjab government.According to the police...

Islamabad : It has been rather unfortunate that despite a huge relief package of Rs50 billion for Utility Stores Corporation and a cut in POL products by almost 31 rupees in a month by the federal government, its impact has not trickled down to the grassroots level, as the general public is still...

Islamabad : Ehsaas Emergency Cash payments to category-III beneficiaries which were identified through district administrations began on Friday.The Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursements have been ongoing for the last one month and so far, Rs89.143 billion have been distributed cumulatively for...