Southeast Asia, once known as the world’s low-cost manufacturing workshop, has begun a wholesale transformation of its industries for higher valued goods and services. To catch the better part of the global train powered by the so-called “fourth industrial revolution,” upper-tier economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have started incorporating automation and digitalization into their industrial value chains with strong support in policies and incentives. As Korea is relatively

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) - Talks to end decades of bitter civil war in Myanmar have faltered, a government spokesman warned Sunday, blaming ethnic rebel demands for greater autonomy, which the military fears could break the country up.The civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi has made striking a peace deal a key pillar of her administration, but fighting has instead intensified in recent months, with tens of thousands displaced by conflict.With only a day to go before the end of the second

GOLD COAST, Australia (AFP) - South Korea Sunday won badminton's Sudirman Cup for the first time in 14 years with an emotional 3-2 victory over 10-time champions China at Australia's Gold Coast.The South Koreans claimed their fourth cup in the biennial tournament with a charged 21-17, 21-13 win by Choi Sol-Gyu and Chae Yoo-Jung in the mixed doubles match.The victory -- their first in the world mixed teams competition since Eindhoven in 2003 -- ended China's 14-year grip on the Sudirman Cup. Chin

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) -- Emergency teams rushed food and water Sunday to half a million Sri Lankans displaced by the island's worst flooding for more than a decade, as the death toll climbed to 151.Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said relief operations had intensified following a break in the monsoon rains, with medical teams reinforcing hospitals in affected districts.The official death toll had climbed to 151 with 111 people still listed as missing, Senaratne said. Another 95 were in

SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- Government forces enforced a strict curfew in parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, a day after the killing of a prominent rebel commander by Indian soldiers sparked massive protests in the disputed region.Armed police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled deserted streets and ordered residents indoors in the region's main city of Srinagar and other towns to stop the anti-India demonstrations.Still, thousands of people assembled in the southern Tral area to take par