Amit Jain is the Director of the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies at the Nanyang Business School in Singapore.

When I was in school, the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro was half-covered in snow. These days it is barely noticeable. The weather in Kenya has become hotter and scientists now fear the ice cap on the mountain could disappear entirely by next year.

That would be a tragedy, but one that can no longer be avoided, even if global warming is kept 2 degrees Celsius below preindustrial levels in accordance

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A man arrested in a knife and arson attack that injured 17 people on a train in Tokyo on Halloween night has told investigators he adores Batman villain character the Joker, police said Monday.

Kyota Hattori, 24, who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder on Sunday night, was also quoted as saying that he "wanted to kill people and be given the death penalty" and that he had been "thinking from around June of being sentenced to death."

BANGKOK -- It was a bad week for Myanmar's military regime and a good one for ASEAN, or so it seemed. The bloc drew praise for barring Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's military ruler, from a summit and meetings that took place Tuesday through Thursday, restoring some of the credibility it had lost for its ineffectual handling of the recalcitrant member state. The widespread criticism had been exemplified by the trending Twitter hashtag #uselessASEAN.

With its unprecedented decision to disinvite the head of a member

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia has given licenses to 44 international entities to set up regional headquarters in the capital Riyadh, as the kingdom seeks to project an image of change to lure foreign capital and talent from places such as the United Arab Emirates.

Multinationals in sectors including technology, food and beverages, consulting and construction are among the entities eligible to set up headquarters. They include South Korea's Samsung, Deloitte, Unilever, Baker Hughes and Siemens.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is spearheading a campaign to make Saudi

JAKARTA -- Indonesian online travel unicorn Traveloka is intensifying its bet on the financial service sector as it prepares an initial public offering.

Primarily known as the Southeast Asian country's equivalent to Expedia, the U.S. travel booking service, Traveloka has steadily become a burgeoning fintech player in recent years, and is now expanding its "buy now, pay later" services beyond its ecosystem.

With travel slowly recovering in some parts of the region, analysts say the pay-later service could boost the valuation of the

TOKYO -- Japan voted Sunday in a general election that proved to be a tough test for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the fledgling government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The LDP went into the election facing tight races in about 40% of single-seat districts, according to Nikkei's polling, and as the night went on it became clear it would lose some of the 276 seats it held before the vote. Nevertheless, despite some high-profile losses, in the early hours of Monday

HONG KONG -- Shares of Chinese payment terminal maker PAX Global Technology are set to resume trading on Monday after crashing last week amid media reports of a law enforcement task force raid on its warehouse and office in Jacksonville, Florida.

The stock dived 43.3% in the opening 86 minutes of trading last Wednesday before going into suspension as the Shenzhen-based company prepared to update shareholders about the raid the previous day by officers from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection and

TOKYO -- In a business notoriously reliant on lucking into the next big hit, video game giant Capcom is taking some of the chance out of the equation by leveraging its extensive back catalog, using rereleases on personal computers to reach a wider audience.

The company sees full-year net profit growing 20% to a record 30 billion yen ($264 million), even with only 13 games set to be released by fiscal year-end -- a fifth as many as in fiscal 2

TOKYO -- Japan voted Sunday in a general election that proved to be a tough test for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the fledgling government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The LDP went into the election facing tight races in about 40% of single-seat districts, according to Nikkei's polling, and as the night went on it became clear it would lose some of the 276 seats it held before the vote. Nevertheless, despite some high-profile losses, in the early hours of Monday