With the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sharpening of arguments on both sides outline a debate about privacy, corporatism, internet freedom and intellectual property, and even the plight of whistleblowers. [...]

The Asia-Pacific region has overtaken Europe in terms of global wealth management for the first time, becoming the world's second wealthiest region with $47 trillion says a report released by BCG. It's on the way to overtaking North America next year. In 2019 private wealth in the countries in the Asia-Pacific area is expected to account for one-third of global wealth, according to the report p [...]

Two Senate Democrats have sponsored a bill demanding the White House reveal the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to the public at least two months before Congress could give President Obama fast-track authority. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in proposing the two-page Trade Transparency Act, reports The Hill. If adopted, the bill would require [...]

This week US relations with Saudi Arabia cool down, while heating up with Russia and Iran. Is the US considering a sweeping change to foreign policy? Saudi King Salman chose not to attend a joint US-Gulf State meeting this week set to deal with the possibility of giving Gulf States a missile defense system to ward off a nuclear-powered Iran. [...]

Beijing has voiced "strong opposition" to a US Department of Defense (DoD) report which accused China's military of being a threat and lacking transparency. It also urged the US to abandon its Cold War mentality and stop jeopardizing bilateral relations. The USreport, published on Friday, criticized the actions of China's military in the disputed South China Sea – particularly the rapid const [...]

The BRICS New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), both seen as alternatives to US – led institutions, will not compete, but rather complement each other, said the head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina. Nabiullina made the statement Thursday in Washington where she is attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Ban [...]

Austria, Spain and South Korea have been approved as founding members of the Asia Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB), the Chinese Finance Ministry announced Saturday. A founding member of the bank has the right to help write its rules and Saturday’s additions bring the number of prospective founders to 41. The exact number of founding members will be finalized on April 15. [...]

Anti-Russia propaganda over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was bad enough. Now one CNN aviation analyst is blaming Russia for the missing MH370 plane as well - and the Western press is eating it up. Malaysia Airlines MH370 vanished in March last year, shortly after departing from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. Efforts to find the plane have turned up nothing so far, and the fate of the Boeing [...]

The recovery team looking for the crash site of missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 has found a large dark object lying on the seabed that is presumed to be the plane's fuselage. The object was found in the Sea of Java off the coast of Borneo “about 30 to 50 meters under water,” confirmed Mochamad Hernanto, an Indonesian official with the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS). [...]

A former French airline CEO Marc Dugain claims that the US may have shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and then covered it up, adding to a rash of conflicting theories about the missing plane. In a six-page article published by French weekly Paris Match, Dugain claims that the Boeing 777 may have got into trouble and as it was approaching the US military base on the British territory of [...]

Direct trade between India and Russia in rough diamonds is a diplomacy gem which was a Russian initiative buttressed by some quick decision-making by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The matter has been under discussion through the diplomatic channels between the two countries for quite some time and came up in a brief discussion between visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Modi during th [...]

Once the fourth-biggest lake in the world, the eastern basin of the Aral Sea in central Asia is now completely dry. It is the result of a Soviet-era project to divert rivers for agriculture and a lack of rainfall at its source. “This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times,” Philip Micklin, an Aral Sea expert from Western Michigan University told NASA’s Ea [...]

When you think of how happy people in a whole country are, what do you take into account? True, country well-being and perception of own happiness depend greatly on the economic situation. But it's Panama that tops Gallup's Global Well-being Index. The Gallup-Healthways index, released for the year 2013, puts the Latin American country at number one, with war-torn Syria and Afghanistan coming i [...]

"This can't be America's fight alone," US President Barack Obama stressed in his ISIS speech. Indeed, about 40 countries have joined the battle with the radical group that's left scores dead in Iraq. But who does what on that battlefield? The main role is still with the US, which has already carried out over 150 airstrikes against the Islamic State (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and t [...]

Russia-China cooperation has reached its highest level ever, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in an interview with Chinese media on the eve of his visit to Shanghai, where a record package of documents is expected to be signed by the two nations. [...]

The second planned march against agricultural giant Monsanto takes place around the world this weekend. The protesters are rallying against the company'€™s use of genetically modified organisms and trying to raise awareness about its corporate practices. [...]

Russia Direct presents the third in its series of monthly roundups from U.S.-based think tanks focused on Russia and Eurasia. In August, the leading U.S.-based think tanks focused on Russia turned their attention to several key issues that could impact the future of U.S.-Russian relations: Russia’s China pivot, the Snowden Affair, new international security concerns in the Asia-Pacific and the c [...]