Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as ASEAN Coordinator, said at the 13th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Summit hosted by Cambodia today (Thursday) that Thailand believes that multilateralism is the…
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Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as ASEAN Coordinator, said at the 13th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Summit hosted by Cambodia today (Thursday) that Thailand believes that multilateralism is the…
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Cambodia will be hosting the two-day Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit later this week, focusing on the post-COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and strengthening multilateralism. The chair has not invited Myanmar’s Senior General Min…
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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Tuesday issued a statement deploring Thailand’s deportation of a Cambodian refugee, which occurred only ten days after the authorities deported two other Cambodian refugees….
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Attending the ASEAN-China summit for the first time in the three decades of their relations this morning, China’s President Xi Jinping made a strong impression on the ASEAN leaders in…
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BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a summit on Monday that Beijing would not “bully”…
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21 people have drowned, as thousands of worshippers attempted to cross a flooded causeway in Myanmar, after making merit at a Buddhist pagoda. The incident occurred as thousands of people…
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Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, will not be invited to attend the special virtual ASEAN-China summit, commemorating the 30th anniversary of their relationship, on November 22nd, according…
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Just a few days after being sentenced to 11 years in prison, American journalist Danny Fenster was freed to go home. It was the first clear indication that Naypyidaw is…
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MANILA, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter agreed on Tuesday to be running mate of Ferdinand Marcos Jr in next year’s presidential election, her spokesperson said, confirming…
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Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta has charged ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi with committing electoral fraud during the 2020 polls, state media reported Tuesday. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a…
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Of the many artists and entertainers arrested in the months following the February coup in Myanmar, one of the best-known faces is the rising star Paing Takhon. A model, an…
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(AP) — Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson says American journalist Danny Fenster has been released from prison in Myanmar. Richardson said in a statement Monday that Fenster…
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PHNOM PENH, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Cambodia will stop requiring quarantine for travellers who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 starting on Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Sunday. The…
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HANOI (AFP): The first international tourists touched down in Vietnam almost 20 months after the Southeast Asian nation closed its borders to contain the coronavirus. Two charter flights brought more…
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On Friday, Thailand formally took over the rotating chairmanship from New Zealand of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) for 2022, with its theme “Open. Connect. Balance.” To symbolise the handover, New…
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(Reuters) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Friday jailed American journalist Danny Fenster for 11 years, his lawyer and his employer said, despite U.S. calls for his release from what it said…
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Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Chinese President Xi Jinping will co-chair the special ASEAN-China summit, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their bilateral relations, on November 22nd. It will be their…
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Myanmar’s junta has charged a US journalist detained since May with sedition and terrorism, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, his lawyer said Wednesday. The military has squeezed…
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The Thai cabinet today approved Thailand’s bid to join ASEAN-Canada FTA talks, in the hope of opening a trade gateway to North America. The cabinet agreed to let Thailand participate…
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MANILA, Nov 9 (Reuters) – The daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday removed herself from the running for mayor of Davao City, just days away from a deadline…
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The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss arrived in Bangkok today (Tuesday) to forge closer bilateral ties with Thailand and to develop the UK’s wider role in Southeast Asia, as…
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SINGAPORE, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Singapore and Malaysia will allow quarantine-free travel between both countries for individuals vaccinated against COVID-19, they said in a joint statement on Monday. The two…
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BANGKOK – A united ideology can elevate ASEAN to better manage superpower rivalry, regional crises and meet the aspirations of its citizens, said two Thai regional experts. Both Kasit Piromya,…
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A secondary school dropout and the son-in-law of a family of four generations of bean sprout farmers, invents an automatic bean sprout growing machine to help with the hardships of…
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Win Htein, a senior aide to Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday on charges of high treason, media and one…
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PHNOM PENH, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Cambodia, the incoming chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will push Myanmar’s military rulers to open dialogue with its opponents, its…
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WASHINGTON/BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) – President Joe Biden told Southeast Asian nations on Wednesday the United States would stand with them in defending freedom of the seas and democracy and called China‘s actions towards Taiwan “coercive” and a threat to…
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Thailand’s re-opening to vaccinated foreign tourists marks a major easing of border controls for Asia, where governments have been far slower to roll back coronavirus travel curbs than in much…
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WASHINGTON/BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden joined Southeast Asian leaders for a virtual summit on Tuesday, the first time in four years that Washington has engaged at the top level with a…
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Southeast Asian leaders begin their annual summit on Tuesday without Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew a civilian government on Feb. 1, in a rare exclusion for the…
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In his speech, on the first day of the 39th ASEAN Summit via a video conference this morning (Tuesday), Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged other leaders of the Association…
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Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders kicked off an ASEAN summit Tuesday but Myanmar refused to send a representative after being angered by the bloc’s decision to exclude the…
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Myanmar’s junta threatened on Monday to skip an ASEAN summit after the bloc said the country’s military chief could not attend over doubts about the government’s commitment to defusing a bloody crisis. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the generals ousted civilian…
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Myanmar’s military rulers pledged on Sunday to cooperate “as much as possible” with a peace plan agreed with ASEAN, despite a stern rebuke of the regional bloc for excluding the…
Read MoreVietnam plans to reopen the resort island of Phu Quoc to vaccinated foreign visitors in late November, authorities said, as the country looks to reboot its tourism industry after almost…
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The Indonesian government has officially cut the quarantine period from eight days to five days, following the Circular of the Covid-19 Task Force Number 20 of 2021 concerning International Travel…
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Myanmar is a country which has been plagued by troubles throughout its history, but it prospered quickly after the 2015 election, which saw the first democratically elected government come into…
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Myanmar’s junta government has decided to release prisoners and cancel arrest warrants issued against thousands of people just days after ASEAN announced that it will exclude Myanmar’s representative from future…
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Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar will release more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against a February coup which ousted the civilian government, the country’s junta chief said Monday. A total…
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Oct 18 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s shadow government, formed by opponents of ruling military, welcomed on Monday the exclusion of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming regional summit, but…
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MANILA, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Hundreds of animal lovers in the Philippines had their pets blessed via a drive–through ceremony on Sunday to mark World Animal Day and the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron…
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In the strongest sign of its frustration with the continuing crisis in Myanmar, ASEAN foreign ministers have decided not to invite the country’s junta leader Gen Min Aung Hlaing to…
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Brunei said on Saturday a non-political representative from Myanmar will be invited to an upcoming summit of leaders from Southeast Asian countries this month, effectively sidelining the leader of a…
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Yangon (AFP) – The chief lawyer for ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday he had been banned by the junta from speaking to journalists, diplomats or international organisations….
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More than 2,400 vaccinated travelers from eight countries like the UK, France, and the US are now approved to enter Singapore without quarantine, from next Tuesday. Applications under these new…
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Thailand’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is 0.002, the lowest among all the ASEAN countries, according to a new report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford…
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MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s office on Monday congratulated journalist Maria Ressa for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling it “a victory for a Filipina” for which it was happy to…
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Myanmar’s envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, has vowed to continue in the post and to carry on seeking international support for democratization of his home country….
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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The son and namesake of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was toppled in a 1986 pro-democracy uprising, registered his candidacy Wednesday for next year’s presidential elections,…
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It becomes clearer by the day that Myanmar’s military regime, headed by Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, is moving painfully slowly towards the implementation of the five-point consensus agreed in…
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COVID-19 has aggravated the issue of press freedom, media business viability and journalist safety around Southeast Asia, according to a panel of experts speaking during a webinar held Tuesday by…
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Jakarta (AFP) – Indonesia will reopen the resort island of Bali to select international travellers next week, a senior minister said, after the pandemic starved the holiday hotspot of one of…
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday he will not run for vice president in 2022 and will retire from politics, potentially paving the way for his daughter to contest the country’s highest office. “The overwhelming……
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The Philippine president says he will prohibit Cabinet officials from attending an ongoing Senate inquiry on suspected irregularities in massive government purchases of medical supplies in a brewing constitutional crisis….
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As the political turmoil continues to wreak havoc in Myanmar, the economy has plunged into an even deeper recession. By September 29th, the exchange rate was 3,000 Kyat to the…
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Very few Thais are aware that it was former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who saved Thailand-Japan relations from going down the drain in 2014. Nearly three months after the…
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Sept 29 (Reuters) – Myanmar‘s currency has lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of September, driving up food and fuel prices in an economy that has tanked since a military coup eight months ago. Many gold shops and money…
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From shoes and sweaters to car parts and coffee, Vietnam’s strict and lengthy coronavirus lockdown has sparked product shortages among worldwide brands such as Nike and Gap which have grown…
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Since the February 1st military coup, led by the Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Tatmadaw (military), Myanmar had endured a great deal of turmoil. Several journalists have been…
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Phnom Penh (AFP) – Cambodia on Friday began inoculating children as young as six against coronavirus, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to approve a vaccine for…
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Thailand needs to play a more “assertive role” in order to make its presence in regional and international diplomacy more meaningful while maintaining a balancing act to avoid being dragged…
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Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai is to visit Washington and will attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and ASEAN related meetings in New York next week, according to an…
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Do not be fooled by the popular optics portraying China and Vietnam as eternal enemies. They are not, as evidenced by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s weekend visit…
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The viral music video, by K-pop sensation Lalisa Manoban, or “Lisa”, which attracted almost 120 million views on YouTube in the three days following its online release, has been praised…
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Japan can now give defense equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed Saturday, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military…
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The United Nations is likely to retain the credentials of the permanent representative of Myanmar’s National League of Democracy (NLD), as the military regime in Naypyidaw will not challenge it,…
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China and Vietnam should refrain from unilateral actions regarding the South China Sea that could complicate the situation and magnify disputes, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told a Vietnamese official,…
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Vietnam plans to reopen the beach-fringed island of Phu Quoc to foreign tourists from next month, authorities said, as the country looks at ways to revive an economy suffering from…
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(AP) — A massive fire raged through an overcrowded prison near Indonesia’s capital early Wednesday, killing at least 41 inmates, two of them foreigners serving drug sentences, and injuring 80…
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(AP) — The main underground group coordinating resistance to Myanmar’s military government issued a sweeping call for a nationwide uprising on Tuesday, raising the prospect of spiraling unrest. The National…
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The news that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is to step down later this month and will not stand for re-election has not stirred up any reaction within ASEAN. The…
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When the country of Myanmar first truly opened up to the outside world in 2015, many there were exposed to global trends for the first time. While many became hooked…
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Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is under quarantine following close contact with a COVID-19 patient, his office said in a statement on Monday. His office did not say how…
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Singapore has fully inoculated 80% of its 5.7 million people against COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, becoming the world’s most vaccinated country and setting the stage for further…
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From the Great Wall to the picturesque Kashmir valley, Asia’s tourist destinations are looking to domestic visitors to get them through the COVID-19 pandemic’s second year. With international travel heavily…
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The Philippines said on Wednesday it has approved the commercial propagation of genetically modified Golden Rice after more than a decade of field tests that drew strong opposition from anti-GMO…
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China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the US should stop disrupt in “regional peace and stability” after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday (August 25) again charged China…
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Cuba will supply large quantities of its home-grown COVID-19 vaccine, Abdala, to Vietnam and also transfer the production technology to the Southeast Asian country by the end of the year,…
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A new Malaysian leader was sworn in Saturday following the previous government’s collapse, reclaiming the premiership for his scandal-mired party without an election. Ismail Sabri Yaakob is a stalwart of the…
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Vice President Kamala Harris has picked the two outstanding US allies in ASEAN for her first visit to the Southeast Asian region beginning on Sunday. From the US perspective, these…
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KUALA LUMPUR (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin resigned less than 18 months into his tenure Monday, becoming the country’s shortest-ruling leader after conceding that he lost majority support…
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to step down on Monday, media reports say, after months of political turmoil that resulted in his losing his majority. If confirmed, Muhyiddin’s resignation would end a tumultuous 17 months in office, but…
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A leading Thai arms manufacturer Chaiseri Metal and Rubber Co has denied any connection with an arms dealer alleged to be involved in an assassination attempt against Myanmar Ambassador to…
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has proposed a series of bilateral meetings, including a summit later this year, between the US and lower Mekong countries as part of efforts…
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ASEAN has accumulated more than US$1.2 billion worth of combined assistance from 11 dialogue partners including the new dialogue partner, the UK. Almost all the countries have contributed special funds…
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A plot to assassinate UN Ambassador to Myanmar Kyaw Moe Tun has been foiled with two men already detained. The attempt allegedly also involved an arms dealer in Thailand. Court…
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Asean is planning to hold an international donor conference on humanitarian aid for Myanmar, which is suffering from an ever-deepening Covid-19 crisis. An informed source, who asked not be identified,…
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The United Nations said Friday it urgently needed funds to feed people in Myanmar amid fears that up to 6.2 million could be plunged into hunger by October. The UN’s…
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New electric vehicle charging technologies will be piloted in Singapore, which has rolled out a regulatory sandbox for this. It’s one of several moves aimed at speeding up the building…
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Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn became the first ASEAN member to openly support the upgrade of ASEAN-China ties to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” according to a…
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Myanmar’s military issued an announcement, hours after Erywan Yusof’s appointment, that Myanmar accepts the selection by ASEAN of the Special Envoy to Myanmar. The diplomat is also to handle ASEAN…
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At the 54th Asean Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN leaders decided to use a common fund to procure 10 million doses of vaccines under the COVAX program. The Joint Communique stated that…
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Myanmar could turn into the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic unless neighboring countries and international organizations adopt pragmatic strategies to inoculate high-risk groups of people to stop the spread of…
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JAKARTA (AP) — Indonesia surpassed 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, a grim milestone in a country struggling with its worst pandemic wave fueled by the delta variant, amid concerns…
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1,000 volunteers injected with the home-grown vaccine Nanocovax in third-phase trials have developed antibodies against COVID-19, according to a report by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, the vaccine producer. The report…
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ASEAN foreign ministers Tuesday (August 3) agreed to appoint the second foreign Minister of Brunei Darussalam Erywan Yusof as the group’s special envoy to Myanmar, ending a three-month-long tussle among…
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Make no mistake, when the UK decides to display its maritime power, the right place to show off is the South China Sea. It is the center of regional concern…
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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Southeast Asia’s top diplomats were meeting Monday to appoint a special envoy to help deal with the political crisis and violence gripping Myanmar and finalize an…
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Cambodia began a rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations for teenagers in its capital Phnom Penh and three provinces Sunday, with Premier Hun Sen’s grandchildren among the first to get the jab….
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Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing has taken on the role of prime minister in a newly formed caretaker government, state media reported on Sunday, six months after the army…
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