Mark Townsend

By David Russell, Global Head of Market Strategy, TradeStation

A week in politics used to be considered a long time. In the Philippines, much has happened over just one weekend, with all the condensed melodrama of one of the country’s hugely popular telenovelas. The gloves are off between President Ferdinand…

The Ferdinand Marcos Jnr administration wants to hold fast to the rule of law on the South China Sea but ignore probes into the country’s war on drugsCherry-picking compliance with international law damages the country’s reputation and undermines its…

Current proceedings, it said, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the court’s investigation. That looks to be the right decision. National police chief Rodolfo Azurin Jnr is…

By Joe Schifano, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, Eventus Legacy financial regulations assume the existence of intermediaries and asset classes well-defined in legal code. The emergence and growth of digital assets has forced regulators, the…

Mark Townsend is a journalist covering Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He previously reported from the Philippines for the Financial Times. Let's face it, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is facing considerable legal trouble and his days as a…

Last month’s first-ever Water Security Dialogue showed the importance of involving young people and focusing on water resources development As a historic show of unity between Asean and the Mekong River Commission, it will serve to enhance the…

A food seller sails her boat at Cai Rang floating market on Mekong river in Can Tho, Vietnam, on May 5: more than 70 million people rely on the river for their livelihood. © Reuters An Pich Hatda is chief executive officer of the Mekong River…

Last week, the Middle East faced the abyss as tensions between the United States and its enduring nemesis Iran, threatened to spiral into a war with global connotations. The heat from the potential conflict may fade, but the standoff between regional…

President Rodrigo Duterte may have avoided accounting of extra-judicial killings in the International Criminal Court, but he hasn’t quite escaped the consequences of his increasingly authoritarian rule. He may have yanked the Philippines out of the…

When Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, he will become the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to set foot in the Arabian Peninsula. The pontiff's host - the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - hopes the optics from the historic visit…

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's violent and controversial war on drugs hasn't made a meaningful change, and is proving to be a political disaster for his presidency. With estimates in excess of 12,000 fatalities, you can also call it a war on…

During last month’s OPEC meeting, Saudi Arabia again declined to cut oil production despite the world being awash with oil. The great unanswered question for Saudi Arabia is: How low can prices go, and for how long? Saudi Arabia’s refusal to reduce…

Saudi Arabia offered an insight into the full impact of low oil prices when it released 2015 budget projections on Thursday. The Kingdom, which derives 90 percent of government revenues from hydrocarbons, will rack up a budget deficit of SAR 145bn…