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Friday, September 4, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: ASEAN Leaders Condone Suharto Era Corruption
‘’We pray to Allah to bless Pak Harto’s soul and to place him among the blessed,’’ Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamad Badawi is reported to have told the local media after news broke of the death on Sunday of Indonesia’s former president Suharto.RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Land Grabbing – A Serious Concern
At the beginning of January, Ros Sovann was just another private security guard one sees standing outside fancy restaurants and the homes of the rich in Phnom Penh. By month end, the 28-year-old had catapulted from obscurity to become the symbol of rage spreading through Cambodia over land grabbing.RIGHTS-THAILAND: War on Drugs Massacre – Officials Scot-Free
Shortly after Thailand’s military leaders grabbed power in the September 2006 coup, they pledged to rectify the ‘wrongs’ committed during the five-and-a-half years of the Thaksin Shinawatra administration. Securing justice for the victims of a bloody ‘war on drugs’ was one of them.POLITICS-THAILAND: Court Clears Path For Pro-Thaksin Gov’t
Thailand came closer to having its first civilian government since the September 2006 coup on Friday after the supreme court threw out a case against the People Power Party (PPP), which won the most number of seats in the Dec. 23 general elections.BURMA: Junta Achieves Food Shortages Amidst Plenty
By announcing a new programme to expand its work in military-ruled Burma, a U.N. food agency has shed more light on the dire economic realities faced by that country’s impoverished people.THAILAND: Muslim Insurgency Headache For New Gov’t
The twin attacks mounted by suspected insurgents in Thailand’s restive southern provinces this week offer a stark warning to the country’s next government of the unresolved conflict that it will soon inherit.ECONOMY: Weaker Dollar May Hit Asian Exports – UN Report
Asia’s developing countries face a bumpy ride in the year ahead as a slowing United States economy and a weakening of the dollar will hit the flow of exports to that western giant, warn economists from a regional U.N. body.ENVIRONMENT-THAILAND: Green Groups Will Take GM Crops Issue To Court
Thai environmentalists are banking on the country’s courts to overturn a decision by the military-appointed government to allow field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops.POLITICS-THAILAND: Uncertainty Over Parliament Reopening
Thailand’s election monitoring body is under close scrutiny as the country is gripped by uncertainty over whether the new parliament will be allowed to hold its first session as scheduled on Jan 23.HEALTH-BURMA: Bird-Flu Awareness Campaigns Show Results
An outbreak of bird flu virus among poultry in Burma’s eastern Shan State, close to the Thai border, is being greeted with a mix of concern and relief.CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Thailand Heading Into a Political Storm
Thailand’s transition from military rule to a democratically elected administration appears far from smooth. The results of the first general election since the September 2006 coup d’etat point to a nation heading into a political storm in the New Year.POLITICS-THAILAND: Voters Vindicate Thaksin’s Pro-Poor Policies
Voters like Samon Somboon, a 39-year-old mother of five who makes a living collecting junk and scrap metal off the streets of Bangkok, find themselves on the side of victory. So, too, Thongdee Sungsuntia, one of the Thai capital’s many taxi drivers.CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Short Shrift for Human Rights in South-east Asia
For nearly 30 years Cambodians have grappled with a question that no one in the country could answer with certainty: will the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime face justice for the genocide they perpetrated on their own people in the mid-1970s?POLITICS-THAILAND: Polls – Referendum on Military’s Role
Thais voting Sunday in the first parliamentary polls since last year’s coup will be doing more than casting ballots for a favoured political party. Their choices may indicate how supportive voters are of the military interfering in the nation’s politics.CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Market Heads to the Forests
The new asset of the century is carbon, to be traded between the developed and developing world in the carbon markets of the future.CLIMATE CHANGE: Carbon Credits From a Water Mill
When they next harvest the the terraced paddy fields on a gently sloping hill, the farmers in this village will reinforce a tradition that celebrates harmony between people and the environment - and do their bit to slow down climate change.DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Regroup Around Climate Change After Bali
This resort island, better known for drawing foreign tourists due to its tropical splendour and its deep spiritual traditions, is poised to enter the vocabulary of another international set - the rapidly expanding global civil society movement.CLIMATE CHANGE: US Herded Into Consensus in Bali
It was left to India, China, South Africa and Brazil to stand up for the developing world and steer the United States towards the consensus as a major two-week international climate change conference ended here on Saturday.
Carbon Market Heads to the Forests
While the business of trading carbon emission rights includes "avoided deforestation", there are doubts about that approach for fighting climate change.CLIMATE CHANGE: Biofuels Scarce on Bali Menu
Green groups hoping that the social and environmental cost of biofuels would get an airing at the United Nations climate change conference here are a disappointed lot.CLIMATE CHANGE: China’s Flexibility Wins Praise
China has emerged as a leader in the list of important developing countries, winning praise for accommodation from civil society groups at a major United Nations climate conference here. Two others are Brazil and South Africa.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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