Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
MANILA, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The Philippines ordered an increase in hospital beds and medical resources in and around the capital Manila, a senior government official said on Sunday, as the country set another record for new COVID-19 infections. Nearly 60% of the 28,707 cases came from the capital region, which has seen a steady
The military junta in Naypyidaw has asked the country’s resistance forces to join ceasefire talks and to work together to deliver effective humanitarian assistance to the needy people of Myanmar. According to a joint press statement, released on the first of a two-day visit by ASEAN Chair and Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, the ceasefire
Cambodia’s strongman ruler Hun Sen arrives in Myanmar Friday for talks with the junta — the first foreign leader to visit since the generals seized power almost a year ago. Myanmar has been in chaos since the February 1 coup which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government and ended the country’s decade-long dalliance with
ASEAN senior officials have endorsed Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn as the new ASEAN special envoy, according to a highly placed source. The source said that at the senior official meeting, held via teleconference on January 5th, the ASEAN officials congratulated DPM and FM Prak on his new assignment, succeeding Brunei’s
Myanmar, a nation which was much touted to be the final frontier of South East Asia for its underdeveloped and unexplored industries, experienced a tumultuous 2021. The coup The nation went into 2021 with a much more optimism, as the most popular political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu
JAKARTA, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Indonesia will begin giving COVID-19 booster shots to the general public from January 12, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday, as the Omicron variant spreads in the country. Health workers were given booster doses in July and the plan now is to cover all adults who took their
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Malaysia will provide 1.4 billion ringgit ($334.93 million) in cash aid and other forms of relief for those devastated by severe floods this month, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Wednesday. Since Dec. 17, nearly 70,000 people have been displaced while at least 48 were killed, after unusually
After nearly eight months held on remand, the BBC Burmese service reported on Monday that actor Paing Takhon has been sentenced to three years in a labour camp for participating in the anti-coup demonstration in Myanmar. A lawyer representing the actor, who is famous both in his home country and in neighbouring Thailand, said the
The new United Nations special envoy to Myanmar on Monday said she was “deeply concerned” by escalating violence in the country and called for a new year ceasefire between the military and its opponents. Special envoy Noeleen Heyzer “is deeply concerned by the continued escalation of violence in Kayin State and other parts of Myanmar,”
Save the Children said two of its Myanmar staff were missing on Saturday, after the charred remains of more than 30 people were found, in an attack a monitoring group and local media blamed on junta troops. Myanmar has been in chaos since the February coup, with more than 1,300 people killed in a crackdown by security forces, according to a local monitoring group. “People’s Defence Forces” (PDF) have sprung up
All the Karen refugees being sheltered at a Thai school in Mae Tao sub-district, in the western province of Tak, have been moved further inland, to a village in Mahawan sub-district, for their safety as fighting between Myanmar government forces and rebels of the Karen National Union intensifies. Thai security forces said that the transfer
PHNOM PENH, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Cambodia’s longtime ruling party voted to endorse Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son as “future prime minister” on Friday but did not specify when he might succeed his father, who has been in power for more than three decades. In one of the world’s longest premierships, Hun Sen, 69,
