Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
Suicides in Singapore rose nearly 26 percent last year to their highest level in more than two decades, reflecting the “unseen mental distress” in the city-state, according to a local NGO. The suicide rates among young people aged 10-29 and elderly people aged 70-79 were particularly concerning, the prevention centre Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) said
Sak Surin, the Thai elephant which has been in Sri Lanka for the past 22 years, arrived safely in Chiang Mai at about 2pm today (Sunday) on a 5-hour chartered flight. The elephant was welcomed by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa, related officials and veterinarians from Lampang Elephant Hospital, who checked Sak Surin’s
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off a three-week election campaign on Saturday, with his party poised to sweep the one-sided contest after the top challenger was barred from taking part. Cambodians will vote on July 23 in an election widely seen as a sham after authorities denied registration to the Candlelight Party, considered the
Vietnam’s export turnover of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products grew in the first six months of the year, despite not performing as well as last year. This indicates positive signs of a market recovery, state media VTV reported. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that it will coordinate with relevant ministries and branches
Cambodian leader Hun Sen, a prolific Facebook user, vowed on Thursday to quit posting on the popular social media platform, days before he launches a re-election campaign. Facebook announced Thursday it would be removing one of Hun Sen’s videos in line with a ruling by its independent Oversight Board, which said the video contained “unequivocal
An active duty missile corvette of the Indian Navy is on its way to Vietnam as a gift, the first warship given by India to any country. The domestically built corvette INS Kirpan left India’s east coast on Wednesday, the navy said. India and Vietnam have strengthened their ties in recent years, with a special
Thailand shares more than 3,000km of land and sea borders with Myanmar. So, when conflicts break out in the neighbouring country, Thailand’s border towns are always impacted. Despite there being more than 90,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand, the Thai government does not yet conduct Refugee Status Determination and has refused to use the description ‘refugee’
After the February 2021 coup and violent crackdown on the people of Myanmar, many were forced to leave their homes and the situation has been deteriorating. While more and more Myanmar refugees move into Thailand, Thailand still does not have a clear policy, measurement system or specific legal framework to protect these refugees. Thailand is
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered 500 troops and 200 anti-aircraft weapons systems to four northeastern provinces bordering Vietnam on Tuesday, to hunt down drones that allegedly violated the country’s airspace, according to Cambodian media. Hun Sen said the drones are believed to be operated by “ethnic insurgents” in Vietnam, but Vietnamese authorities have denied
Myanmar on Monday (June 26) torched $179.5 million worth of seized illegal drugs and conducted a ceremony in Yangon to mark World Drug Day, state media MRTV reported. According to MRTV, the destroyed drugs were seized across the country till May this year, but no specific data was provided for the list of drugs or
The first ever Olympic Esports champions were crowned on Sunday (June 25) after a week of competition in Singapore. Over 130 participants from more than 60 countries across the globe competed in the 10 events which made up the Olympic Esports Series 2023 including archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, motorsport, sailing, shooting, Taekwondo and tennis.
Malaysia said on Friday it will take legal action against Facebook parent Meta Platforms for failing to remove “undesirable” posts, the strongest measure the country has taken to date over such content. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration has vowed to curb what it calls provocative posts that touch on race and religion since coming to power
