JAKARTA – Indonesian Democrat Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leader Megawati Sukarnoputri has finally named enigmatic Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as her party’s presidential candidate, forced to show her hand earlier than she wanted to by the political fallout from Indonesia losing the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. The 76-year-old matriarch chose the Bogor presidential palace […]Continue Reading
Last month, China brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a landmark deal that restored full diplomatic ties between the two bitter rivals. There was hope the detente could also bring an end to one of the world’s longest-running – and virtually forgotten – proxy wars in Yemen, as well. Indeed, peace talks have […]Continue Reading
African countries are estimated to lose US$17 billion each year to illegal logging. High-value timber species are in global demand. Illegal logging is most prevalent in the continent’s tropical rainforests. Foreign demand for rare hardwoods from these forests has dramatically increased. A significant driver is Chinese demand for teak, redwood and mahogany. According to the […]Continue Reading
A new documentary produced by a consortium of public broadcasters in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway has revealed what appears to be a profound threat to maritime and undersea energy and data infrastructure in the North Sea and the Baltic region. “The Shadow War” includes footage of a Russian research vessel called Admiral Vladimirsky allegedly […]Continue Reading
Victory City is an epic chronicle of the rise and fall of Vijayanagar (the capital city of the historic southern Indian Vijayanagara empire), which acquires the name “Bisnaga” through ill-fated attempts at pronunciation by a Portuguese traveler. The story unfolds as a fictional retelling of Bisnaga’s history, premised on the archaeological discovery of the Jayaparajaya, […]Continue Reading
As part of a joint military exercise with the Philippines, the US Navy is slated to sink a mock warship on April 26, 2023, in the South China Sea. The live-fire drill is not a response to increased tensions with China over Taiwan, both the US and the Philippines have stressed. But, either way, Beijing […]Continue Reading
The current conflict in Ukraine frequently elicits parallels with the first world war. It’s a comparison being made by politicians, journalists, analysts and military personnel. Coverage over the past winter months, for example, has focused on how Ukrainians are fighting in WWI-like muddy trenches in Bakhmut, while Russia suffers almost WWI levels of casualties. It’s […]Continue Reading
In the early days of a brutal 2021 military crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Myanmar, members of the nascent resistance movement began asking “how many dead bodies” it would take for the world community to act. More than two years on from a coup that installed military rule in the Southeast Asian country, pro-democracy protesters […]Continue Reading
The economic and political isolation of Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021 has worsened a humanitarian crisis in the country. The World Food Program projected that between November 2022 and March 2023 the number of food-insecure Afghans would rise to 20 million – 3.2 million of them under the age of five. Some […]Continue Reading
A century before Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, Winnifred Eaton,the daughter of a Chinese mother and a white English father, was working behind the scenes in Hollywood. Winnifred Eaton, often credited in Hollywood as Winifred Reeve, was born in Montréal in 1875. She wrote and adapted […]Continue Reading