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Monday, September 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
ASIA: Facing the Threat of GE Rice
With an eye to the future of rice farming in Thailand, a local grassroots organisation is bringing together youth in a north-eastern rice-growing province in a celebration of the diverse varieties of this staple grown in the traditional way.WATER DAY-CAMBODIA: Asian Development Bank Project Fails Fishermen
A planned survey to check the economic pulse of fishing communities living on the banks of South-east Asia's largest freshwater lake - the Tonle Sap in Cambodia - threatens to expose serious shortcomings in an Asian Development Bank (AsDB) anti-poverty initiative.RIGHTS-BURMA: Christians Pay for Junta's Insecurities
Burma's persecuted Christian minority is receiving a long overdue hearing in the Western capitals of the world, a turn that could invite more international pressure on the country's military regime, already under fire for a litany of human rights abuses.HEALTH-THAILAND: US Pharma Giant Faces Public Boycott
A broad coalition of Thai non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is threatening to tap the spirit of nationalism, which runs deep and wide here, in a showdown with a Chicago-based pharmaceutical giant. The need for access to cheaper life-saving drugs has sparked this row.CAMBODIA: Leader in Global Rally Against Cluster Bombs
Cambodia is receiving applause for stepping up to serve as a launching pad for a global campaign to ban the use of cluster munitions. But then, it is a country still hurting from deadly ‘bomblets' littered across its terrain since the United States invaded Indo-China in the 1960s.RIGHTS-BURMA: Red Cross Considers Pull Out
Hopes that Burma's military regime will change and begin caring for its people soon have been dashed now that a respected international humanitarian agency has revealed that the junta is not serious about easing the hardships of its long-suffering citizens.ENVIRONMENT-THAILAND: Smog Hits Emergency Levels
By declaring one northern province a disaster zone, the Thai government confirmed Wednesday the growing threat that millions of people face from thick smoke from out-of-control forest and brush fires.HEALTH-LAOS: On the Bird Flu Map
A spell of good fortune that South-east Asia's poorest country enjoyed for three years ran out this month. Laos has become the 11th country in the world to record a human death from the bird flu virus.BURMA: Women Take Brunt of Ethnic Minorities’ Struggles
At 17 she was in Geneva, not as a tourist but as an invitee speaker at the annual sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In 2005, aged 24, she had a celebrated hour-long meeting with U.S. President George W. BushLABOUR-THAILAND/BURMA: Education May Limit Abuse of Migrant Children
Troubled by the exploitation of migrant child on the Thai-Burma border, a labour rights group is seeking an unusual pact with the Thai government. The Migrant Action Programme (MAP) wants support to help educate the victims.BURMA/THAILAND: Dams on Salween Threaten Indigenous Groups
Being a village headman means little if you live in a community nestling in the hills close to Thailand's northern border with Burma. More so, if officials have plans to use your village for a large ‘development' project.RIGHTS-BURMA: Food Prices Spark Open Dissidence
Crippling economic realities in military-ruled Burma may pose a more formidable threat to the junta than the simmering political front, say analysts in the wake of a rare public protest in Rangoon over a range of domestic problems.RIGHTS: S’pore – Venue for Int’l Bar Association Meet?
Few Singaporeans are better qualified than 37-year-old lawyer M. Ravi to expose the dark side of the affluent city-state’s legal system. In October 2006 he was suspended from his practice for a year because he was 'rude' to a judge.PHILIPPINES: UN Lifeline Against Extra-Judicial Killings
By condemning the Philippines’ military for having a hand in a brutal campaign to eliminate politicians and activists with left-leaning views, a United Nations envoy may have thrown a lifeline to many whose lives may be in danger.THAILAND: Bombings Say Muslim Rebels Won’t Negotiate
Malay-Muslim militants in southern Thailand marked the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year with a show of force that has left the military-appointed government in Bangkok scrambling for answers.THAILAND: Bombings Say Muslim Rebels Won’t Negotiate
Malay-Muslim militants in southern Thailand marked the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year with a show of force that has left the military-appointed government in Bangkok scrambling for answers.THAILAND-JAPAN: ‘Free Trade Cannot Include Toxic Waste’
Japan's search for an overseas site to unload the mountains of waste it generates is facing stiff resistance in Thailand, one of the many developing countries in South-east Asia that Tokyo has been eyeing as a possible dump.POLITICS: Moderate Islam – Answer to Insurgency in Thailand?
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's prescription of moderate Islam for Thailand's Malay-Muslim minority may provide the healing balm for the long festering ethnic conflict in the country's southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani.RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: UN Probes Extra-Judicial Killings
A 10-day visit by a United Nations investigator to the Philippines, starting Monday, is being welcomed in some quarters as a chance to expose an alleged campaign to ''exterminate left-wing activists'' in that South-east Asian nation.HEALTH-INDONESIA: WHO Feathers Ruffled Over Bird Flu Vaccine
A decision by the Indonesian government to be selective about sending local samples of the bird flu virus to the World Health Organisation (WHO) reflects fears harboured by developing countries of being marginalised in the race to find a vaccine for this deadly disease.CAMBODIA: Stalked by Hunger, HIV
As the month began the fate of an already vulnerable community in Cambodia grew bleaker. An estimated 740,000 people faced with acute food shortages could see no relief in sight.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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