Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
Hanoi (AFP) — US President Donald Trump touted North Korea’s “AWESOME” future if his “friend” Kim Jong Un, whom he meets for a high-stakes dinner later tonight, agrees to give up his nuclear arsenal. Trump’s enthusiastic tweet came hours before a second summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to build on their historic first meeting
KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia said today big power rivalry and foreign interference swirling around the Middle East is yet another reminder why Malaysia and ASEAN must be forever vigilant against big power involvement in the region, Bernama reported. The Malaysian leader said if Malaysia and ASEAN were not careful, the same
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Chinese negotiators agreed Friday to extend high-level trade talks through the weekend, and President Donald Trump said he hoped to meet next month at his Florida resort with President Xi Jinping to try to finalize an agreement. The news followed two days of negotiations in Washington aimed at resolving a
Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva today presented ten policies to upgrade the livelihood of the people in Bangkok by making the city “livable, beautiful, clean, safe and with opportunities”. He said that the ten policies were screened from 50 issues associated with the city dwellers by the 30 city candidates of the party working in
Poll finds most people undecided about which parties to vote for About 76 percent of respondents in the latest opinion poll admitted that they have not yet decided which parties they will vote for in the upcoming March 24 election whereas 38.7 percent don’t know when the election will take place. Super Poll director Dr
NAYPYITAW (Reuters) – Myanmar’s ruling party clashed with military lawmakers on Tuesday as it proposed steps towards changing the constitution, its biggest challenge in nearly three years to the army’s power over politics as enshrined in the charter. Military members of parliament, clad in green uniforms, rose to their feet and stood in silence as
JAKARTA (AFP) – Floods and landslides that battered Indonesia’s Sulawesi island have killed at least 70 people, the authorities said on Tuesday, as aerial footage underscored the scale of the disaster with whole villages wiped off the map. Lashed by heavy rain, rivers swelled and burst their banks, inundating dozens of communities across 12 districts
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Members of Malaysia’s royal families today elected Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah of the central state of Pahang as the new king, following the unexpected abdication of the previous monarch. Sultan Abdullah, 59, will formally take over the throne on Jan. 31 for a five-year term, the keeper of the rulers’ seal
The cockpit voice recorder from an Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October has been recovered, officials said Monday, a discovery that could be critical to explaining why a brand new plane fell out of the sky just after take-off. The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after departing Jakarta, slamming
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s King Muhammad V abdicated on Sunday, the palace said, after two years on the throne, the first time a monarch has stepped down before completing their five-year tenure. The king’s resignation took effect immediately, the National Palace said in a statement. No reason was given and palace officials did not
The eldest son of Surin Pitsuwan is setting up a foundation named after the late former ASEAN secretary general to help promote education, diplomacy and human security. Speaking at a forum organized by the ASEAN Secretariat and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) to commemorate Surin’s legacy in Jakarta recently, Fuadi Pitsuwan
Indonesia on Thursday raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked a killer tsunami at the weekend, after previously warning that fresh activity at the crater threatened to trigger another deadly wave. Authorities also widened a no-go zone around rumbling Anak Krakatoa to five kilometres (three miles) — up from a previous
