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Singapore has topped the global Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings in math, science, and reading, while countries including Australia, France, and the UK sit in the bottom batch of OECD countries for achievement in these areas. So what is Singapore doing right, and do other countries want to emulate it? Clearly there are […]

Nurul Izzah Anwar’s political career began at age 18, when her father, the then deputy prime minister of Malaysia, was sacked and imprisoned over trumped-up sodomy charges. Malaysia has undergone countless threats to its 60 year old democracy. This includes, most recently, the world’s largest financial scandal: Investigators are involved in a multi-billion dollar money […]

Every morning, Baisa, a forest-dwelling Karbi woman, gets up at 4am to forage for fresh, wild edible plants and insects from the forest. At the market in Diphu (Assam), Baisa is able to sell some of the surplus wild vegetables for about Rs100. There is an increasing demand for wild foods like Alpinia nigra (locally […]

A smooth change of guard in Pakistan’s leadership is a rarity, particularly in its military circles. Nonetheless, last month, prime minister Nawaz Sharif appointed general Qamar Javed Bajwa Pakistan’s new chief of army staff (COAS). There is optimism in some quarters that the country is on the path to eventual civilian supremacy given that his […]

Shanghai On a recent afternoon, Sun Zhicheng, a 70-year-old retiree from Shanghai, walked into the cafeteria of the Ikea store in the city’s central Xuhui district, just as he has every Tuesday and Thursday for the past three years. He ordered two shrimp cakes and a bottle of grape juice, which cost him 20 yuan, […]

It’s the season of income tax raids in Asia’s third-largest economy. Since Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced the historic demonetisation, India’s income tax (IT) department has seized cash worth Rs120 crore ($17 million) until Dec. 06 during raids across the country. It has identified Rs1,500 crore ($222 million) of unaccounted income, Sushil Chandra, chairman […]Read More

President-elect Donald J. Trump plans to use the US’s decades-long stance of treating Taiwan and China as part of the same country as a bargaining chip, he said in an interview over the past weekend, a position that is likely to enrage Beijing and has already sparked a reaction in China. “I don’t know why […]Read More

Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration isn’t until next month but protesters are already rearing to go. On Dec. 7, lawyers for a number of activist groups accused the National Parks Service (NPS) of colluding with the committee that organizes the presidential inauguration to thwart rallies in Washington DC. Protest groups argue that the NPS is denying […]

Without hosting a single press conference since July, president-elect Donald Trump has managed to direct national political conversation with a steady stream of colorful tweets, as you can see in the video above. The process goes something like this: Newspapers or TV outlets report something controversial about Trump, or one of his surrogates. Trump tweets […]

A 76-meter (250 ft) luxury yacht said to belong to Teodorin Obiang Nguema, the vice-president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has been seized by Dutch authorities after it tried to leave Makkum, the Netherlands to head to Malabo. Obiang Nguema, who is the son of president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa’s longest serving president, has been […]

As Taiwan enters the final stage of a debate over whether to legalize same-sex marriage, supporters of the move have made a final push to convince Taiwan’s lawmakers to pass the relevant legislation. On Saturday (Dec. 10), supporters of LGBT rights gathered at Ketagalan Boulevard, the main artery around the presidential office. Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, […]

Hanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, is an annual reminder of abundance. For eight days in early winter, families and friends gather around a menorah each night to light candles and chant blessings to commemorate small miracles. Day 11 of Quartz’s 25 Days of Exchange (Jordan Coelho for Quartz) The holiday celebrates a miracle that […]