Asean helps to regional cooperation in southeast asia in the spirit of equality and partnership

Paying for your ride and food orders will soon be easier and hassle-free as the country’s leading mobile wallet GCash partners with Grab Philippines, the country’s leader in transportation and deliveries. The landmark partnership will give Grab users access to the easiest, most convenient, and secure cashless transactions when they add GCash as a direct payment method on the Grab app. GCash will be officially available as a mode of payment on the Grab platform by February. Through this partnership, users can simply choose GCash as their payment method, and pay cashless for GrabCar, GrabFood, GrabMart, GrabExpress and other Grab services with just a few taps on their smartphones. Moreover, this partnership enables users to avoid transfer fees which go as high as Php 50. “With this partnership, we once again realize our commitment to make the lives of Filipinos better each day by delivering a  more convenient, secure, and cost-efficient way to pay for their rides and … [Read more...] about GCash, Grab Philippines join forces for more convenient direct cashless payment option

Fikri Harish (The Jakarta Post) PREMIUM Jakarta   ● Sat, January 28 2023 State-sponsored discrimination looks to be on the rise in the country ahead of the 2024 general elections, with plans to enact new anti-LGBT bylaws in several regions gaining traction after the mayor of Medan declared the North Sumatra provincial capital as “LGBT-free” at the beginning of the year. Homosexuality is not illegal but still frowned upon by conservatives in Muslim-majority Indonesia, despite early history pointing to fluid gender practices the likes of which can easily be found elsewhere in Southeast Asia. But with the country entering a highly politicized year, attempts to criminalize the LGBT community at the regional level have started to appear, following the example of Bogor, West Java, which passed a similar bylaw in 2021. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper … [Read more...] about Plans for anti-LGBT bylaws raise specter of persecution

After trying for over a year to persuade more South Korean women to have babies, Chung Hyun-back says one reason stands out for her failure: “Our patriarchal culture.” Ms. Chung, who was tasked by the previous government with reversing the country’s plummeting birthrate, knows firsthand how tough it is to be a woman in South Korea. She chose her career over nuptials and children. Like her, millions of young women have been collectively spurning motherhood in a so-called birth strike. A 2022 survey found that more women than men — 65 percent versus 48 percent — don’t want children . They’re doubling down by avoiding matrimony (and its conventional pressures) altogether. The other term in South Korea for birth strike is “marriage strike.” The trend is killing South Korea. For three years in a row, the country has recorded the lowest fertility rate in the world, with women of reproductive age having fewer than one child on average. It reached the “ dead cross ,” when deaths … [Read more...] about How to End South Korea’s Birth Strike? Feminism.

South China Sea: Dozens in danger as ship sinks in storm SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Australia has been tipped to stand alongside the US in its ongoing dispute with Beijing over Taiwan's sovereignty as its government hatches plans to cut costs on some defence projects, a professor told Express.co.uk . The nation's deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, spoke this week about how Australia "doesn't have limitless resources", and would be axing some defence projects in order to "maximise Australia's capability". He pinpointed the ongoing dispute over the hotly contested South China Sea, which is a main trading pathway for Australia to Asia, as one place where resources would continue to be channelled, describing the stretch … [Read more...] about Australia ‘increasingly likely to stand’ with US as South China Sea tensions brewing

The 2024 governor’s race in North Carolina just got underway. You care. Not because this state is the nation’s ninth most populous, though that’s reason enough. But because what happens here is a referendum on how low Republicans will sink and how far they can nonetheless get. Attorney General Josh Stein of North Carolina announced his candidacy last week. At present he’s the likeliest Democratic nominee. He’s a mostly conventional choice, with a long résumé of public service and unremarkable politics. I say “mostly” because he’s in one way a trailblazer. He’d be the state’s first Jewish governor. The likeliest Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, is also a trailblazer. He’d be the state’s first Black governor. But that’s the beginning, middle and end of anything forward-looking and progress-minded about him, and he’s extremism incarnate: gun-loving, gay-hating and primed for conspiracy theories, with a garnish of antisemitism to round out the plate. Robinson … [Read more...] about Anti-Gay? Anti-Science? Antisemitic? Run for Governor of North Carolina!

Twenty-five years ago, Harvard professor Samuel Huntington penned an influential article on the West and the Rest. Building on his 1993 classic “The Clash of Civilizations,” he argued that the West has won the Cold War, but it cannot flourish in a more hostile world until it abandons its universal aspirations. In his mind, the clash is about identities defined by cultural civilizations. He defined eight civilizations: Sinic, Japanese, Hindu, Islamic, Western, Latin American, Orthodox, and African. For him, “the West” refers to broadly Western Christendom, covering Western Europe and North America, including Australasia. Japan is today counted as part of the West, not just being first Asian state to industrialize, but also to emulate Western imperial history. European thinkers have long debated the role of the West in sustaining modernity. America now carries the mantle of leading the West, but much of her intellectual power was boosted by European science and social scientists who … [Read more...] about The West versus the Rest

Not long ago, Michelle Obama posted a black-and-white photo of herself on Instagram, cozy in an armchair, a nearby side table displaying an adorable baby pic of Malia and Sasha. She is barefoot, dressed in wide-legged jeans and a satin shirt, smiling widely as she looks down … at her knitting. “Every time I tell people how much I love to knit,” she writes in the caption, “They seem so surprised!” And I thought, why ? I suspect it’s because knitters, unlike Mrs. Obama , are presumed to be aging ungracefully: prim, elderly (probably white) ladies rocking away on the porch in cultural irrelevance. Before I refute that — yarn lovers come in all ages, genders, sexualities and races — I want to ask, even if it were true, so what? The dismissal, the reflexive derision of women from midlife onward — especially if we stop chasing social media standards of beauty — is a nasty form of ageist sexism. Besides, that imagined innocuousness can be a strength, even a superpower. Knitting is … [Read more...] about The Revolutionary Power of a Skein of Yarn

Ursula von der Leyen criticised for election ‘threat SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has come under fire for holding meetings with fossil fuel firms during the energy crisis, and it comes amid a corruption scandal that has rocked the European Parliament. As Europe struggled to cope with surging wholesale gas costs sparked by Russia 's war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's supply cuts to Europe, fossil fuel companies were raking in record profits while households across the continent saw their bills surge. Related articles Energy lifeline as firm offers 'lowest priced' heat pump at £499 Earth’s inner core may have started to spin in the … [Read more...] about VDL slammed for meeting fossil fuel CEOs amid energy crisis as EU corruption laid bare

INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS/DANIELLA MARIE AGACER MANILA, Philippines—While Filipino consumers slowly try to recover from months of inexplicably high onion prices, some are now bracing for higher costs of another kitchen staple—garlic—as a supply shortage lurks around the corner. With the first batch of imported onion arriving recently, consumers are given a breather in prices that had gone up to as much as P700 per kg at one point. READ: First shipment of 1,200 MT imported onions now in PH The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) price monitoring also showed that current retail prices of locally grown red and white onions had decreased slightly to P200-P350 compared to the all-time high retail price of P700 per kilogram during the holiday season. READ: Onion prices worldwide much lower, deepen questions on incredulous costs in PH However, just as many people began to expect more stir-fry dishes again—with affordable onions now available—consumers recently noticed yet another … [Read more...] about Inexplicable price hikes, supply confusion: After onion, garlic may be next

close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for January 27 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. North Korea condemned on Friday the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight off Russia's invasion, saying Washington is escalating a sinister "proxy war" aimed at destroying Moscow . The comments by the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored the country’s deepening alignment with Russia over the war in Ukraine as it confronts the United States and its Asian allies over its own growing nuclear weapons and missiles program. North Korea has blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine, insisting that the West’s "hegemonic policy" forced Russia to take military action to protect its security interests. It has also used the distraction created by the war to accelerate its own weapons development, test-firing more than 70 … [Read more...] about North Korea condemns US President Joe Biden’s decision to send battle tanks to Ukraine