Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
The Jakarta-based ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) released a statement yesterday (May 27) calling on the Thai authorities to end their harassment of Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and to stop their efforts to undermine anti-military parties in the National Assembly. “The Thai authorities’ pursuit of trumped-up criminal cases against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and
“Friend Zone”, a romantic comedy about a handsome guy who has been in love with his best friend for over a decade, produced by a promising Thai director, Chayanop Boonprakop. It is currently showing on cinema screens in Hong Kong and Macao. After its premiere in Thailand on February 14th, the movie has been screening
JAKARTA, May 22 (Reuters) – Indonesia has introduced curbs on social media in a bid to prevent the spread of hoaxes, some calling for violent post-election attacks, and quell two days of protests in the capital. Fact-checkers say hoaxes and calls for violence on social media networks have spiked since Tuesday when an official election
Thai citizens in Indonesia have been warned by the Thai embassy in Jakarta to exercise extreme caution when travelling around Indonesia’s capital and to avoid areas where protests are being held. In a situation report on Wednesday, the Thai embassy said that six local people died and about 200 others were injured when protests in
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Six people died in civil unrest that gripped parts of Jakarta on Tuesday night after the election commission confirmed that President Joko Widodo won last month’s election, the governor of the Indonesian capital said. Protests on Tuesday by supporters of Widodo’s challenger for the presidency, former general Prabowo Subianto, started peacefully
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo comfortably won re-election in last month’s poll, an official count showed on Tuesday, throwing the spotlight on his opponent Prabowo Subianto who has refused to concede defeat after claiming widespread cheating. The result released by the General Election Commission (KPU) confirms unofficial counts by private pollsters in the
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore and Malaysia have agreed to suspend the construction of a billion dollar train project linking the city-state to the southern Malaysian state of Johor, their transport ministers said on Tuesday. The suspension marks a delay in yet another project since a new Malaysian government came into power last year pledging to
Southeast Asia is in the grip of a fresh surge of paedophile activity with predators orchestrating and watching abuse on live-streaming sites and via webcams, and paying for it with near-untraceable cryptocurrency, victims and children’s charities warn. With widespread poverty, lax laws, and creaking judicial systems, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines have
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines is withdrawing top diplomats from Canada after Ottawa missed a deadline to take back 69 shipping containers full of trash, the latest move in a long-running row stoked by threats from Manila’s outspoken president. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Canada with war and said he would personally escort the
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has a glorious history of being open to the world and it will only be more open, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, in his first public address since trade tension with the United States spiked last week. China and the United States are locked in an escalating trade war, with
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has stepped up its imprisonment of political activists, Amnesty International said in a report on Monday, intensifying a crackdown that has seen the number of prisoners of conscience increase by almost a third since last year. Nearly 10% of the 128 prisoners held in the Southeast Asian country for expressing dissenting
After a decade long ban on the export of Thai elephants, Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department has eased restrictions to pave way for the export of the protected species for non-commercial purposes. Foreign Trade Department director-general, Mr. Adul Chotenisakorn, disclosed that the Ministry of Commerce issued a new regulation on April 10th to set the guidelines
