JAKARTA -- Indonesia is considering introducing a carbon tax as it seeks to boost revenue to fund its spending to support an economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The carbon tax could be applied to fossil fuels and emissions released by factories or vehicles, as well as "carbon-intensive" industries such as pulp and paper, cement, power generation and petrochemicals. The initiative was included in a Finance Ministry document, issued last week, that outlines the economic framework and fiscal policies for next year.

"The

Paola Subacchi is professor of international economics at the University of London's Queen Mary Global Policy Institute and the author, most recently, of "The Cost of Free Money."

Of the many changes that COVID-19 has hastened, the way the U.S.-based International Monetary Fund and the World Bank execute policy has been among the most remarkable.

Gone are the harsh conditions that both institutions have attached to project finance since the 1980s, a policy approach known as the Washington

YANGON/BANGKOK -- Hundreds of thousands of students across Myanmar are set to boycott classes as the academic year begins on June 1 in protest against what some are calling "military slave education."

The boycott, an extension of a battle that is already taking place in Myanmar, is the latest show of opposition to the military coup that was staged almost three months ago.

The nation's schools and universities have been closed for more than a year due to the pandemic, but the junta is determined to open them

HONG KONG -- China has responded to the red-hot demand for commodities such as iron ore and copper by vowing to punish speculation, market manipulation and spread of false information, sparking a fall in the price of the key raw materials.

China is the largest consumer of commodities such as iron ore and copper, which have surged in price this year as the global economic recovery reignited demand for an array of manufactured goods. However, the upward pressure on prices has led to fears of higher global inflation, which could

YANGON/BANGKOK -- Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.

The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November . But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud.

For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.

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-- Japan

SEOUL -- The U.S. and South Korea have characterized their relationship as an "ironclad alliance" ever since they signed a mutual defense treaty in 1953. North Korea continues to test their partnership.

At a summit between Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden in Washington on Friday, the South Korean president pushed his American counterpart to reignite efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula -- a process that has stalled since the collapse of talks at the 2019 Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi

HONG KONG -- Samoa was expected to wake up with its first female prime minister on Monday morning. Instead, the country awakened to what some are calling a "bloodless coup," after election winner Fiame Naomi Mata'afa and her party were locked out of parliament.

Fiame and her supporters have decided to conduct their own swearing-in ceremony outside parliament. But with the current prime minister refusing to relinquish power, it is unclear what will happen next.

This is the latest in a flurry of developments that have

HONG KONG -- One of China's first homegrown entrepreneurs, Liu Yonghao, accumulated his fortune as he flourished under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's economic-opening policy introduced in the late 1970s, and eventually became one of the country's wealthiest individuals. Liu further established his presence as part of the Communist Party's political machinery for nearly three decades.

Now, the agribusiness tycoon is poised to list one of his many companies in Hong Kong with aspirations of expanding through aggressive mergers and

BANGKOK -- Thailand's largest industrial estate developer is restructuring its investments to align with the country's rapidly changing business landscape amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Amata has decided to revise its business plan to invest 5 billion baht ($160 million) over five years to 2023 in Thailand and Vietnam, while gearing up for a post-COVID rebound in the economy.

The developer hopes to beat the gloomy sentiment caused by COVID-19 at home and political instability in other parts of the