In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

While emerging diseases like H1N1, also known as swine flu, dominate headlines, dengue fever is quietly exacting a far more devastating toll on public health than the swine flu. While there have been more than 525,000 swine flu cases worldwide in 2009 leading to 9,800 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 50 million people [...]

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For a country that appears to be so isolated from the outside world, North Korea seems to have been on edge for months regarding the possible impact of swine flu (H1N1) on its population. These rumors of North Korean anxiety have been underscored by an unusual admission last week of nine confirmed cases of swine [...]

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Vientiane has never looked so good. As host to the 25th Southeast Asian Games, the city has been spruced up and polished. The 10 ASEAN countries, plus Timor-Leste, are competing in 25 sporting events, ranging from soccer, badminton, and taekwondo to more regionally-specific sports such as sepak takraw and poomsae. Vientiane’s charm and beauty are [...]

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Early this month marked the official beginning of a hopeful end to decades of armed conflict between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in southern Philippines. The announcement in November of the formation of the International Contact Group (ICG) made up of select countries and four international NGOs, including The Asia [...]

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With the signing of a landmark investment agreement in October, Mongolia is about to undergo a mining boom. The country has several world-class mineral deposits that remain undeveloped today. As the Mongolian government prepares to sign more deals to begin developing these deposits, protecting the country’s environment and water resources is critically important. Climate change [...]

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Our dramatic topography here in Nepal provides a front-row seat to many of the disastrous effects of climate change, including rapid glacier melt, receding snowcaps, landslides, etc., so we are listening eagerly this week to hear what will come out of the Copenhagen climate conference. You may recall – as it was reported here in [...]

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The November 23 massacre in Maguindanao, on Mindanao in the southern Philippines that killed over nearly 60 people, has catapulted the dire human rights situation in the Philippines to the global stage. Unfortunately, communities in this region have a long history of such conflict and human rights abuses. In October, an initiative called “KaSaMa” (Filipino [...]

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Royal Danish Ambassador to Indonesia Børge Petersen announced Monday a $10 million grant from the Danish government to promote good governance and reduce corruption in Indonesia. The Asia Foundation is one of four organizations that will carry out the work over the next three years. At a ceremony in Jakarta, (see photo) the Ambassador signed [...]

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At the 15th ASEAN summit, held this past October, ASEAN inaugurated its Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).  The announcement was met with criticism from some quarters, but ASEAN called it a “historic milestone” in its 42-year history of community-building in the region. During the summit’s concluding statement, ASEAN said that the AICHR “gives concrete [...]

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Every North Korean seems to have been mobilized for an all-out push to mark their country’s arrival as a “strong and powerful nation” in 2012, which marks the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, Kim Jong Il’s 70th birthday, and the 30th birthday of Kim Jong Il’s third son and reported successor, Kim Jong-Eun. [...]

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