The Guardian News
Myanmar could face aid ‘catastrophe’, experts warn, after junta law change
Myanmar’s junta has passed a law that grants it sweeping powers over aid delivery, prompting warnings of a “catastrophic” effect on services to those in need in the crisis-hit nation. Sources inside aid agencies in Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that the ...
Emanuel Stoakes
Cambodia’s modern slavery nightmare: the human trafficking crisis overlooked by authorities
t 3.28am on 29 June 2021, Xu Mingjian crept out of a dorm room inside a gated compound in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and made his way to the second floor, where his friend, another victim of trafficking, was waiting. The two had hatched a desperate plan to ...
Lindsey Kennedy, Nathan Paul Southern and Huang Yan
Indigenous activists among Goldman environmental prize winners
Indigenous activists and lawyers who took on transnational corporations and their own governments to force climate action are among the 2022 winners of the world’s pre-eminent environmental award. Taking on powerful vested interests is a risky business, and the recipients of this year’s Goldman prize demonstrate ...
Nina Lakhani
From India’s highs to Thailand’s lows, Asia’s weather is hitting extremes
The final days of April saw further unbearable temperatures recorded in India and Pakistan. Temperatures peaked at 49C in Jacobabad, Pakistan on 30 April, with a high of 47.2C observed in Banda, India. The Indian Meteorological Department confirmed that average temperatures in April were the highest ...
Matt Andrews (Metdesk)
Scientists step up hunt for ‘Asian unicorn’, one of world’s rarest animals
Weighing 80-100kg and sporting long straight horns, white spots on its face and large facial scent glands, the saola does not sound like an animal that would be hard to spot. But it was not until 1992 that this elusive creature was discovered, becoming the first ...
Veronika Perková
Farmers tempt endangered cranes back – by growing their favourite food
Several years ago, I counted more than 300 cranes in the wetlands near my rice field,” says farmer Khean Khoay, as he reminisces about the regal-looking eastern sarus crane. Khoay’s village, Koh Chamkar in Kampot province, lies on the outskirts of the Anlung Pring protected landscape in ...
Anne Pinto-Rodrigues
‘Low point’ in world heritage committee history as politics ‘tramples’ human rights of the Karen people
Along Thailand’s border with Myanmar, in rich forests filled with rare plants and animals, the indigenous Karen people are fighting for the right to live on their traditional land. Last month, the UN’s human rights agency said the Karen continued to be forcibly evicted from the Kaeng Krachan ...
Graham Readfearn
US journalist detained in Myanmar while boarding flight home
An American journalist has been detained in Myanmar as he tried to board a flight at Yangon International Airport, the latest of dozens of reporters and editors to be arrested since the coup. Danny Fenster, managing editor of the independent outlet Frontier Myanmar, had been due to board ...
Rebecca Ratcliffe
Myanmar rebels claim police killings as Aung San Suu Kyi appears in court
Dozens of Myanmar security force members have been killed in fighting, rebel fighters have claimed, as Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in person at a court hearing for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in February’s coup. In one battle on Sunday, the ...
UK Home Office charters its first ever deportation flight to Vietnam
Charities and human rights campaigners have expressed alarm at a decision by the Home Office to charter its first ever deportation flight to Vietnam. The Guardian has learned that the flight is due to take off on Wednesday, though it is unclear why the government has decided ...
Diane Taylor