Law and judiciary
Programme helps fight wildlife violations in Vietnam
The Nature Education Centre recently announced the findings of a programme on the assessment of the spread of wildlife violations in 42 districts of nine provinces and cities with the involvement of 12,840 trading establishments, in an effort to ease the phenomenon. The programme, which was ...
Cambodia gets serious about its illegal ivory trade
The director-general of the Cambodian Department of Customs and Excise, Kun Nhim directed all branch directors to intensify their efforts and crack down on ivory smuggling. In a letter, Mr Nhim reminded branch chiefs: “Importing, exporting and transporting elephant and rhino ivory and furniture made from them ...
Illegal Charcoal Trade Wrecks Myanmar’s Bulwark Against Cyclones
The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages and playing havoc with the mangrove forest that protect the coastline from extreme weather events. The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar ...
Wudan Yan
Jailed Reuters Reporters, U.S. Border Photographers Win Pulitzer Prizes
Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a ...
Daniel Trotta
'The People's Messengers': Myanmar's Satirical Poets Target Censorship
In a classroom on the outskirts of Myanmar’s biggest city, a thin, bespectacled university student led about a dozen peers in boisterous chants of “Censorship is a shame!” and “We don’t believe in censorship!” It was the final rehearsal of a troupe performing “thangyat”, a centuries-old ...
Riding the waves of the pot rush
Daycha Siripatra, founder of the Khaokwan Foundation, would have remained largely unknown had the police and anti-narcotics officials not raided the foundation’s premises in Suphan Buri province and seized 200 cannabis plants, some marijuana extract, oil and seeds. They also arrested senior foundation member Pornchai Choolert and ...
Anchalee Kongrat
Myanmar parliament to pass gambling bill in May: report
Myanmar’s parliament is expected to approve in May a bill that would authorise the setting up of foreigner-only casinos in the country, the Myanmar Times newspaper reported on Sunday. The parliament is expected to sit again later this month after an April holiday break. Keep reading ...
Myanmar seizes largest crystal meth haul this year
Myanmar authorities seized more than 1,700kg of crystal meth worth nearly US$29 million in a multi-state operation this week, the biggest haul of 2019 in a country widely believed to be the world’s largest methamphetamine producer. High-grade crystal meth – or “Ice” – is smuggled out of ...
Four countries launch 80th joint patrol on Mekong River
The 80th Mekong River joint patrol, led by China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, started from Jinghong port in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan province on March 19. Five vessels joined the four-day patrol that will involve inspections, a crackdown on drug crimes in key waters, including ...
Meth production in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand booming: UN
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a report Tuesday which names the “Golden Triangle” of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos as the heart of methamphetamine production and trafficking in East and Southeast Asia. The report also states Taiwan-based crime syndicates operating across ...