Economic slowdowns can often be characterized as periods of hesitation. Consumers hesitate to buy a new house or car, thinking that the old house or car will do just fine for a while longer. Managers hesitate to expand their workforces, buy a new office building, or build a new factory, waiting for news that will make them stop worrying about committing to new ideas. Viewed from this perspective, how worried should we be about the effects of hesitation today?Hesitation is often like procrastinat

This is the third in a new series of columns on global affairs which will be written by top editors from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region. --Ed. The Philippine Left has a gift for mischievous phrase making, and last week’s coinage was both obvious and effective. #Chexit, with the now-obligatory hashtag, quickly made the rounds. Inspired by the tumultuous campaign to consider Britain’s exit from the European Union, the new catch phrase was code for th

Once the domain of the world’s militaries, a new breed of drones have taken flight and are being raced in competitions around the world such as Korea’s GiGA Drone Race in Seoul last year, the World Drone Prix 2016 in Dubai and upcoming Drone Worlds world championship races in Hawaii this October. These high-performance racing drones are being created by the next wave of drone developers and are pushing the thresholds of robotics, aeronautical engineering, machine vision, battery technology, and

On July 8, The South Korean Defense Ministry agreed to deploy the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on the Korean Peninsula. China’s response was strong and immediate. It protested the move publicly, and also lodged formal complaints with the ambassadors of South Korea and the U.S. North Korea was also furious, saying that the deployment is “tantamount to a proclamation of war and a major act of crime that could never be forgiven.” Russia took that opportunity to side with

Every day a parade of presidents, cabinet ministers, government officials, academics, journalists and countless business leaders passes through the San Francisco Bay Area. They come from every corner of the world, but particularly from Europe and China, looking to understand how innovation happens in the region, and why so many world-leading technology companies come from there. Essentially they’re looking for the future, believing that much of the world’s economy will be shaped by what’s happen

The hours-long detention of Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn by thousands of angry residents of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, last week was a serious incident. The unruly crowd temporarily incapacitated the prime minister while he was heading the government on behalf of President Park Geun-hye who was then attending the Asia-Europe Meeting in Ulan Bator. Surrounded by the unruly, violent crowd who were throwing eggs, water bottles and other objects in the county office compound, the prime mini

Last week, a close friend of mine told me that he is constantly badgered by people around him.This friend, a smart, well-educated and kind-hearted man in his early 40s with a respectable job was “bullied” by his colleagues for no other reason than that he was not yet married.“Don’t you have a father? Your family must be ashamed of you,” was one of the remarks that he heard from his superior. “What is the use of decorating your place if you are not married?” was another.The comments — to which th