News
APEC begins summit with focus on food and energy inflation, North Korea
An annual meeting of Pacific Rim leaders started Friday in Bangkok with the focus on taming surging food and energy prices driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as realizing inclusive and sustainable growth of the region. The launch by North Korea of an intercontinental ...
KYODO NEWS
Myanmar Releases Nearly 6,000, Including 4 Foreigners in Prisoner Amnesty
Myanmar’s military-controlled government announced Thursday it was releasing nearly 6,000 prisoners under a broad amnesty. Major General Zaw Min Tun, Myanmar junta’s spokesperson, confirmed to VOA Burmese the release of artists, activists, one minister, a top election commission official and one minister chief from the ousted ...
VOA News
Asia-Pacific leaders seek unity on war, economic ills, virus
Pacific Rim leaders were striving to find common ground on the war in Ukraine and other dire threats to humankind in an annual meeting that began Friday at a heavily guarded venue in Thailand’s capital. The annual summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is ...
ELAINE KURTENBACH and CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL
China, Vietnam, Laos are hotspots for the criminal wildlife trade: does Asia really care about biodiversity?
Pangolin scales at US$160 a kilogram, monkeys and wild cats for sale – the online trade in protected and rare species is thriving in Laos, a key Southeast Asian gateway to the insatiable Chinese and Vietnamese markets for animal products. As world leaders gather in Egypt ...
Aidan Jones
China Announces New ASEAN Belt & Road Initiative Projects Centered Around Cambodia
The Phnom Penh-Bavet Highway which will ultimately link the Cambodian and Vietnamese capital cities The 2022 ASEAN summit took place at the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, this past weekend, with China as an official guest. At the event, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced Beijing’s approval of Chinese investment ...
Chris Devonshire-Ellis
India Should Exercise Caution Over Myanmar Timber Imports
The confusion over Myanmar timber exports to India was laid to rest last month when the central government in New Delhi informed the Indian border state of Mizoram that timber was not on the restricted list of commodities from Myanmar. New Delhi’s directive was in response to a ...
RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA
Illegal gold mining threatens freshwater lake in Myanmar
Illegal gold mining is threatening Myanmar’s largest inland freshwater lake – which ethnic people in Kachin state depend on for their livelihoods – due to the increasing demand for the precious metal as the country’s economy teeters towards collapse. U Aung Ko, a 60-year-old ethnic Shan ...
Maran
Thai media highlights significance of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s upcoming official visit to Thailand marks a new milestone in the relationship between the two countries, according to an article published on ThaiPBSWorld, an English news website by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS). President Phuc, his spouse, and a high-ranking ...
Flooding thwarted by dams, Mekong Delta flood-resistant houses stand unused for decades
Around 100 flood-resistant houses built in the Mekong Delta have not been used for two decades as upstream dams have disrupted the eagerly awaited flooding season. One afternoon in November, Nguyen Thi Diem, 32, and her husband took advantage of the sunny weather to fix the ...
Hoang Nam
Climate change: efforts to halt rise in global temperatures may be too late to save key glaciers, report warns
Glaciers in UN World Heritage sites are among those likely to disappear by 2050 as a result of global warming – regardless of efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures, scientists have warned. Researchers fear their loss is likely to have a devastating impact on vital waterways ...
Holly Chik