CNN

Hundreds of newly discovered species under threat in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region

Nearly 400 species only just discovered in Asia’s Greater Mekong region could soon become extinct due to loss of habitat caused by human activity, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned in a report published Monday. The discoveries – including an orchid that looks like a “Muppet ...

Kathleen Magramo

Chinese private security presence is growing in Southeast Asia, report finds

Chinese businesses with risky investments in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region are increasingly turning to legal, China-based private security companies for protection, according to a new report. The Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) found that China-based companies account for 29 of the 49 foreign private ...

Joshua Berlinger

Arrest of journalists a litmus test for how Thailand treats those fleeing persecution in Myanmar

Three senior reporters who fled Myanmar for Thailand after the brutal military coup “face certain arrest and persecution” if they are deported following their arrest in Chiang Mai on Sunday, journalist groups say. The three are prominent journalists with the independent Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and were detained in ...

Helen Regan and Kocha Olarn,

Covid-19 outbreak reported near Laos casino run by alleged crime boss

Authorities in Laos have reported a significant Covid-19 outbreak near the notorious Kings Romans casino, whose Chinese owner is accused by the United States of trafficking people, wildlife and drugs. Officials said a cluster of cases in Tonpheung district was traced to people who illegally entered ...

Joshua Berlinger and Kocha Olarn

Coronavirus is 'emboldening' Myanmar military to carry out 'war crimes' says UN human rights expert

A leading United Nations human rights expert claims the Myanmar military is carrying out “war crimes” against ethnic minorities, emboldened by special extended powers intended to help control the spread of the coronavirus. Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, accused the military ...

Rebecca Wright and Ivan Watson

How new technology is transforming Vietnam's economy

In 1975, Vietnam emerged from its 20-year-long war as one of the poorest nations in the world. Since then, its economy has been transformed — largely thanks to a package of economic and political reforms, designed to engineer growth, that was launched by the government in ...

Sarah Lazarus, CNN

The coronavirus pandemic is an opportunity for organized crime in Asia

To say the global novel coronavirus pandemic is causing chaos and affecting lives in real and tangible ways is certainly no understatement. But one impact that has not received significant attention is how its spread is hurting the efforts of governments to combat transnational organized crime ...

Jeremy Douglas

'Barbaric' snares are wiping out Southeast Asia's wild animals

Across Southeast Asia, wild animals are being hunted out of existence to feed growing demand for bushmeat, according to conservationists. Thomas Gray, science director with conservation group Wildlife Alliance, which operates in Cambodia, says that snares — simple traps made of wire and rope — have become the single biggest ...

Sarah Lazarus

Cambodia to evacuate 25,000 people downstream of collapsed Laos dam

An estimated 25,000 people are being evacuated from a northern Cambodian province following extensive flooding due to the collapse of a massive hydropower dam in neighboring Laos. Authorities in Stung Treng province are attempting to evacuate towns and villages downstream from the dam, which has ...

China tests bombers on South China Sea island

China says it has landed long-range bombers for the first time on an island in the South China Sea, the latest in a series of maneuvers putting Beijing at odds with its neighbors and Washington over China’s growing military presence around disputed islands. Keep reading ...

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