Asia

Foreign investors and multinational companies have been pushing countries like India to become food-import-dependent and divert land devoted to food grain toward crops that imperialist countries can’t grow. By Prabhat Patnaik The two bills rushed through India’s parliament on September 20 were objectionable in every conceivable sense. The very… »

In a landmark move, India and South Africa on 2 October asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow all countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property (IP) related to COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other technologies for the duration of the pandemic, until global herd immunity is… »

Thousands have gathered to protest the results of a recent parliamentary election marred by allegations of vote-buying. Police moved to break up the demonstrations using water cannons, stun grenades and tear gas. Protesters demonstrating against the results of parliamentary election have stormed a building that houses the country’s parliament and presidential… »

Malaysia has become the 46th nation to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Its minister of foreign affairs, Hishammuddin Hussein, signed the instrument of ratification for the landmark disarmament treaty at a ceremony in the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, on 30 September 2020. It was deposited with… »

Some of the country’s schools are also set to reopen later this month Around 2.8 million Indian students sat university examinations from the end of the August to September 13 as the country approaches the grim milestone of 5-million total COVID-19 cases. Despite pleas from civil society to defer… »

By Vijay Prashad and John Ross In Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, he reports on interviews he did in February and March with U.S. President Donald Trump about the coronavirus. Trump admitted that the virus was virulent, but he decided to underplay its danger. “I wanted… »

Condemning continued acts of vandalism at Satras and temples across Assam by rabidly communal malcontents, the Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) has urged the State government in Dispur to take serious note of the situation as anti-national forces are waging a diabolical war against the unique cultural identity of India. »

On August 30, the Qatari authorities published two measures, announced in October 2019, intended – if fully implemented – to improve the protection of the rights and living conditions of migrant workers, massively present in the Gulf emirate. The first measure removes the employer’s “no-objection certificate”, allowing migrant workers to… »

Across India, casualties among the media fraternity because of Covid-19 complications have started kicking in. Now, almost every other day, the country is losing a media person to the coronavirus. According to the Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA), the last three media corona casualties were reported within four days and urged… »

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended weeks of speculation about the state of his health by announcing his surprise resignation today. The 65-year-old Abe was finally forced to concede to the ulcerative colitis intestinal disease that had brought his first brief term in office to an end in 2007. After being treated… »