LATEST PULSE

Communities in Nueva Vizcaya and on Sibuyan Island have spent years defending their land against mining projects that are moving forward with the support or indifference of the Philippine government.   While the authorities present the country’s mineral wealth as an economic opportunity, residents are warning that their communities will ultimately pay the price.   Manila’s Mining Push Raises Fears Among Local Communities...

Nepal is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to become a major hydropower exporter, aiming to supply electricity across South Asia.    Hydropower is a way of producing electricity by using the movement of flowing or falling water to spin turbines that generate energy. Nepal's vast Himalayan rivers give the country some of the world's greatest potential for hydropower development.   But this vision is increasingly tied to a diff...

More than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war remains one of the world's most destructive conflicts. Fighting continues across the front line, while both sides increasingly rely on long-range drones and missiles to strike targets far behind enemy lines.   Over the past week, Russia carried out missile and drone attacks on several Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian authorities reported civi...

After the US Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s global tariffs in February, Washington began looking for another way to rebuild its trade barriers.   Brazil has become the first major target of this new strategy. From July 22, the United States will impose an additional 25% tariff on thousands of Brazilian products, claiming that Brazil has adopted policies that "unfairly harm" US companies.   The new duties, imposed under ...

China’s economic reach across Asia is growing at breathtaking speed. From electric vehicle factories in Thailand to massive rail corridors in Central Asia, Beijing is reshaping trade routes, supply chains, and regional politics.   Many governments welcome the investment. Chinese money has helped fund highways, railways, energy projects, ports, and factories that local economies could not easily build alone.   But the deeper th...