A study by a research centre linked to Thailand’s central bank highlights a spiralling debt crisis in the agricultural sector, exacerbated by ineffective payment practices and short-term government policies, to the point that in recent years farmers have been able only to pay the interest.
The Metro Infanta Foundation has awarded the 2026 prize to the Archbishop Emeritus of Cotabato. The first cardinal from Mindanao, he is known for promoting dialogue between Christians, Muslims and the Lumad. A leader who embodies the vision of a humble Church, attentive to human rights and close to marginalised communities, following in the footsteps of Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, who was born exactly a hundred years ago.
The pro-democracy leader has no direct access to her family or lawyers, even after she was moved to a specially built residence. Myanmar’s opposition and human rights groups are calling it yet another sham operation by General Min Aung Hlaing to gain international legitimacy. In the new house, she reportedly met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi a few days ago during his visit to Myanmar.
A central figure in the scandal surrounding flood control infrastructure projects, he continues to accuse the president and other political leaders from abroad. Although the case faded for a while into the background, it still causes sparks between factions and within the government.
The meeting between North Korea’s leader and Belarus’s Lukashenko marks a new course. The North Korean regime is managing its isolation as a strategic resource rather than simply enduring it. Pyongyang is choosing its interlocutors, building relationships, and using the diversification of its partners as a tool to maintain its autonomy from Beijing and Moscow with a growing focus on Southeast Asia at the expense of South Korea.
International pressure is mounting on Myanmar’s military junta to provide verifiable proof of the democratic leader’s health, who has been held in solitary confinement since 2021, through the “Proof of Life” campaign. There has been no reliable news about her for years. Her son Kim Aris told AsiaNews: “The Burmese people love my mother as much as I do”.
