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July 12, 2026
 

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GLOBAL ECONOMY

Albert Park speaks during an interview in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 5, 2026
ADB urges countries to limit fuel subsidies to vulnerable groups
Japan has capped gasoline prices at around ¥170 per liter through subsidies after they surged to about ¥190 after the start of the Iran war.
A tanker approaches a pier at a PT Pertamina facility at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta in February. Conflict in the Middle East and rising fuel prices are driving energy shocks across Asia.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2026
Oil shock will hit Asia harder than the 1970s
We’re seeing the first tremors of a similar earthquake now in Asia. More than 80% of the oil and gas that passes through the Strait of Hormuz heads east.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ASEAN leaders pose during the 21st ASEAN-India Summit at the National Convention Centre, in Vientiane, Laos, in October 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Asia’s economic diplomacy for tumultuous times
In a volatile multipolar world, countries must drive their own development by balancing global engagement with strong domestic capacity, as shown by Asia’s growth strategies.
The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it needed to hold rates steady because “developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook.”
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2026
The world’s central banks are wrestling with a gigantic problem
Surging inflation, an economic slowdown, and uncertainty over how long the energy shock will last has forced central banks to adjust.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 22.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2026
WTO plans 10% budget cut as U.S. falls back into arrears, documents show
Washington is usually the biggest contributor to the Geneva-based body, but it was ⁠not immediately clear when — or even if — the U.S. would pay up.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations are displayed at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on March 4.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 28, 2026
South Korea passes U.K. to become world’s eighth-largest stock market
The total market capitalization of Korean-listed companies has surged more than 45% this year to $4.04 trillion, while the U.K.’s has climbed about 3% to $3.99 trillion.
A container ship enters the Singapore Strait for the Strait of Malacca at mainland Asia's southernmost point in Johor, Malaysia, in November 2016.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2026
How Asia should deal with the ‘Malacca dilemma’
The confrontation between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz has shown how easily chokepoints can be militarized and how quickly economic fallout can spread.
South Korea’s booming stock market, fueled by reforms and rising retail investment, is diverging from its slowing economy and reshaping its capitalist model.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2026
Decoupling and South Korea’s new capitalism
Now, instead of always reinvesting profits, South Korean firms are delivering more short-term value to shareholders — a change that could help keep capital in the country.
AI-driven job disruption fears are rising, but a stable labor market and limits on technology adoption are likely to delay widespread job losses in the near term.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2026
The AI job apocalypse is being delayed
Job losses due to technological disruption tend to come in recessionary bursts rather than in a linear fashion.
A screen tracks the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, in the control room of Hapag-Lloyd, a shipping giant in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 26, 2026
Trump’s Hormuz blockade has deepened a historic shipping crisis
Crude output from the Persian Gulf nations is already 57% below where it was before the war, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.
A tanker unloads crude oil in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province, on April 7. The divided oil market is showing high costs now but lower prices later.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2026
So what is the real oil price right now?
Be wary of anyone saying one particular oil-price gauge matters more than the others.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington in April last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2026
Tariff refund system launches as thousands of companies file claims
Up to $166 billion in tariffs illegally collected tariffs by the U.S. government could be returned to importers.
Merchandise featuring U.S. President Donald Trump is sold during The National Rifle Association’s annual meetings and exhibits in Houston on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2026
The Iran war has revealed Trump’s pressure point: the economy
Iran has taken a beating militarily, but demonstrated it can exact economic costs that ​Trump and his aides underestimated, unleashing the worst-ever global energy shock.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 18, 2026
Bessent’s busy week clashes with global thirst for U.S. attention
At the IMF and World Bank spring meetings, some participants grumbled that U.S. officials were reluctant to discuss the U.S.-war driven oil shock.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. sails in the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war on March 18.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2026
Blockade as war: The perilous logic of strangulation
Under Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (1949), starving civilians as a method of warfare or inflicting disproportionate suffering on a population is explicitly prohibited.
Human intelligence can become more valuable if AI is used to complement it, such as with Malaysia's rubber industry, where the government invested in research to make rubber producers more productive.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2026
Rubber’s history could be a window into AI’s future
To this day, for example, aircraft tires are mostly made from natural rubber because synthetics can’t handle the stress of landing a 747.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks with other participants at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2026
Markets are too nonchalant about Iran war’s economic toll, policymakers warn
While oil prices have soared, the full extent of the pain from what the IEA has called the biggest energy shock the world has ever seen has yet to be felt.
An explosion during an Israeli strike in Beirut on March 31
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2026
IMF cuts growth outlook and warns world drifting toward ‘adverse scenario’
Under the IMF’s worst-case outlook, the global economy teeters on the brink of recession, with oil prices averaging $110 a barrel ​in 2026 and $125 in 2027.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an order raising tariffs in the Oval Office in Washington in February 2025.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 14, 2026
Trump, ‘The Art of the Deal’ and the ‘TACO’ myth
The question is not whether Trump “chickens out,” but whether the final outcome leaves him in a stronger position.
Georges Elhedery, CEO of HSBC Holdings, during an interview in Hong Kong on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 14, 2026
HSBC CEO warns U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is damaging global confidence
The London-based lender is among the European banks most exposed to the Middle East, a region that accounts for roughly 4% of its pretax profit.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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