In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

Cannes, a medieval city on the French Riviera internationally renowned for its luxurious hotels, seafront “promenade,” and International Film Festival, is used to welcoming the rich and famous. It is, however, another type of festival that will take place in Cannes this week. The city is gearing up for the sixth annual Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit where heads of state, finance ministers, and Central Bank governors from 20 industrialized and developing economies (19 countries plus the European Union) will converge to discuss financial markets and the world economy. The G-20, whose member countries account for over 80 percent of the global output and two-thirds of the world’s population, is the premier forum for industrialized and developing countries to discuss key issues in the global economy and monitor international economic cooperation.

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Several weeks of the worst flooding Thailand has experienced in 50 years has left more than 400 people dead and affected over 9 million Thais. Although central Bangkok has been spared thus far, many neighborhoods in greater Bangkok and adjacent provinces remain submerged. In Asia interviews The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Thailand Kim McQuay…

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While international media attention has been focused on the rising floodwaters in and around Bangkok, and Thailand’s efforts to cope with this disaster, across the border, Cambodia has been experiencing its worst flooding in a decade…

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According to the United Nations, a baby born this week became the world’s 7 billionth person. As four babies are born somewhere around the world each second, no one knows for sure exactly which baby was the 7 billionth, or where he or she was born. However, it is probable this person was born somewhere in Asia…

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Over the past 90 days, the peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been through the best of times and the worst of times. At the beginning of August, President Noynoy Aquino met…

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Sitting at the back of the classroom, with one eye on her mobile phone, Shanti looks like a typical Indonesian high school student. But Shanti is not here to learn; instead, she’s a tutor herself. In a makeshift classroom constructed from two old shipping containers stacked on top of each other, Shanti tutors first grade students at the Master Community Learning Center in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta. “It’s a great experience,” the 17-year-old says. “I can contribute to the education of Indonesian children as well as help relieve some of the pressure on the learning center.”

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Last week, In Asia‘s editor, Alma Freeman, sat down with leading Chinese economist, Cheng Siwei, in San Francisco at the start of a series of high-level presentations he delivered across the United States on China’s economic growth and challenges ahead.

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Francia came to Tala Leprosarium from her hometown of Camarines Sur in Bicol region as a leprosy patient when she was 17 years old. Before she contracted leprosy, she had worked as a domestic helper. When I met Francia at Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, a former leprosarium and grantee of The Asia Foundation’s…

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To mark Indonesia’s National Literacy Day on October 21, The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia program distributed 3,250 books to almost 50 Community Learning Centers across Jakarta. Located in low-income neighborhoods, these government-supported centers…

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In this new video, Nepal Country Representative George Varughese describes The Asia Foundation’s approach to community mediation in Nepal, and includes footage of mediators and disputants engaged in an actual mediation session…

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