Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
At least 11 people have died in storms across the Philippines in the past week, with more heavy rain expected in already sodden regions of the disaster-prone country, authorities said Tuesday. Bad weather has plagued the country’s southern and central islands since the Christmas weekend when downpours triggered flooding and landslides that left 52 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to
JAKARTA, Jan 8 (Reuters) – A boat with 185 Rohingya refugees landed on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sunday, a local disaster agency official said, following hundreds who arrived late last year fleeing desperate conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Over half of those who arrived around 2:30 p.m. Sunday were women and
Tens of thousands of Catholic faithful walked through the streets of Manila early Sunday in reverence of a historic statue of Jesus Christ, which is believed to have miraculous powers. The “walk of faith”, which church officials estimated attracted more than 80,000 people, began after a midnight mass for the so-called Black Nazarene statue. Many
A prisoner was killed and more than 60 wounded after a riot broke out at a Myanmar prison west of Yangon, the junta said on Saturday. Myanmar has been in chaos since Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government was toppled in a military coup in February 2021, ending the southeast Asian nation’s brief period of democracy. The riot at
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Binh Minh has lost his position, along with another Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Duc Dam. Neither will serve as members of the Central Party Committee from now on. Minh has been expelled from the Vietnamese Communist Party, as he was dismissed as a member of the Politburo. No specific reason
A combined force of anti-military groups, including the People’s Defence Force (PDF) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), attacked nearby military encampments and reportedly as many as 100 soldiers are dead, according to Kyain Seikgyi Township residents. Locals told the news media that a Nagar Ni member (one of the anti-military groups) told them
The death toll from recent floods and landslides across the disaster-prone Philippines has risen to 51, officials said Monday, as authorities distribute food packs to the hardest hit communities. The number of fatalities could rise further as rescuers search for 19 people still missing more than a week after heavy rain pounded central and southern
Thousands of exhausted passengers on Monday (January 2) remained stranded outside the ageing Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, after a New Year power outage caused hundreds of flight cancellations. “In the 24 hours that we’ve been waiting, we are now very exhausted from lack of sleep. My body is aching from all the waiting,” Kirana Mangkabong, a 32-year old overseas worker, told Reuters. “There’s no
Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Monday ordered the creation of conservation zones on the Mekong river to protect critically endangered dolphins, after three were killed by fishing nets and lines last month. The Irrawaddy dolphins, known for their bulging foreheads and short beaks, once swam through much of the mighty Mekong but in recent decades have been limited to a 190-km (118-mile) stretch from
Indonesia, the new ASEAN chair, will hold its first ministerial retreat in early February to discuss the bloc’s agenda and priorities, according to a diplomatic source. The retreat will be the first informal meeting among the ASEAN foreign ministers under the new chairmanship and will be held on February 3rd and 4th at the ASEAN
(VTV) – Many industries in Vietnam are adopting green production methods to maintain and expand their export markets, including the textile industry. Thanks to this industry’s transformation, many domestic enterprises have obtained green production certifications from strict markets. Recognizing the green production trend, this company has built factories, equipped them with modern machinery by European
The outgoing ASEAN Secretary General, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, says that, despite the achievements of the last five years, the ASEAN community remains at a crossroads. “This is because of the global and regional headwinds that impact the future of the ASEAN community, including problems like global trade tensions, climate change, the digital divide and
