The poor and middle class are struggling to find affordable housing across the region, but there are some basic steps cities can take to improve the situation.

Work done within the home, including caring for children, is extremely important to society but undervalued and poorly tracked. 

With no single cause, and no magic solution, the congestion of Asia’s cities requires government resolve and know-how to fix.

The over-use of acronyms turns the joy of reading into a tedious process of decoding. It also muddles the message of development communications.

After a disappointing 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, there is a need to restore confidence that the intergovernmental process can deliver on mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

In recent years, particularly in many developing countries, road developers have failed to give sufficient consideration to road safety features in the design and construction of highways. As a result, these roads have become more deadly.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed dedicated his life to social development, establishing practices that will continue to help the poor for decades to come.

Complex, carefully managed financing structures can provide the funding needed for island states and others seeking to develop energy projects.

Singapore’s carbon tax is designed to maximize green investments while minimizing negative effects on the overall economy.

With key reforms, Pacific states could move toward cleaner, more affordable sources of energy that eventually eliminate fossil fuels completely.

Asian cities act as engines of economic growth, providing jobs, expertise, and the sharing of resources. But in some cases, these powerful engines are sputtering due to insufficient infrastructure, inadequate planning, and poor governance.

Girls and women today have far more opportunities and role models than their mothers and grandmothers, but there is much more to be done.

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

A high level of external debt is linked with decreased economic growth but there are policy options that can help economies keep growing.

Millions of families who were already poor and vulnerable before the COVID-19 outbreak face impossible decisions about food, healthcare, and survival. We have a responsibility to act immediately and protect those most in need.

The Asia Pacific region is standing together to cooperate regionally to address the transnational threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to support trade to not only move medical supplies but also to bolster economies

A new program will help provide food to thousands of poor households in the Philippines.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to embrace the future of work-from-home and the greater adoption of walking and cycling. 

Many workers will be displaced and many businesses will close as a result of the slowdown caused by COVID-19. Providing support to those affected gives them a fighting chance.

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

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

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 global response to COVID-19 should also be a springboard for action on climate change resilience so we can narrow the divide between rich and poor and keep everyone safe.

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.

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

Hunger and malnutrition were an increasing problem worldwide before the pandemic. Restrictions imposed to curb disease spread have disrupted local and international food supply chains, making the problem even more urgent.

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.

Crafting small business support efforts to specific country circumstances could help save millions of livelihoods in poor communities and fortify economies against future shocks.

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

The pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings of the globalized supply chain model.

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

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 : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a fresh probe against a DLF group firm, DLF Universal, for allegedly imposing unfair and unreasonable conditions on office buyers at one of its commercial projects — Corporate Greens at Sector 74A — in Gurgaon. CCI said in its 11-page order dated June 23 that “the conduct of DLF Group, emanating from its dominant position in the relevant market, prima facie, amounts to imposition of unfair terms and conditions on the commercial office buyers which is anti-competitive”. After looking into the complaint, CCI said its prima facie opinion was that despite the presence of other developer in commercial real […]

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 […]

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.

Like other sci-fi before it, it imagined the present year as a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Despite the global outcry against animal sacrifice in Nepal, the tradition persists.

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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 […]

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 […]

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...

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...

A meme based on an image from a video clip of Lisa, a member of K-pop girl group Black Pink, has gone viral among global celebrities on Twitter. Lisa uploaded the 1 minute, 20 second video, which shows her performing a sexy dance routine, on her personal YouTube channel on April 20. Hollywood celebr...

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...