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Saturday, September 19, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
CORRUPTION: No Free Lunch for Cambodia, Say Fed-Up Donors
While the international donor community still has Cambodia's well-being at heart, it is showing little sympathy for the rampant corruption in that battle-scarred country. For graft, according to reports, has robbed the poor of basic services.EAST ASIA: China on Track to Achieve a Millennium Goal – ILO
China's rapid march towards economic prosperity is helping East Asia guarantee its place as one region in the developing South that would meet a 2015 deadline of halving the number of people living on less than one U.S. dollar a day.THAILAND: King’s Speech a Boost to Anti-Smoking Crusaders
Thailand's anti-smoking lobby was hardly prepared for the surprise that awaited them on Sunday courtesy of the most respected voice in the land, King Bhumipol Adulyadej.THAILAND: Security Law Shot Down But Sweeping State Powers Stay
By shooting down a plan to give the country's police wide powers to go after suspected Muslim insurgents in the south, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has generated an image that he might care about human rights after all.WORLD AIDS DAY: Thai Teenage Sex Education Vital, Say Activists
On a recent Friday afternoon, the students at a secondary school on the outskirts of this town in northern Thailand took a break from their books to watch a play that produced steady bursts of laughter.POLITICS-SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Burma Thumbs Its Nose at Regional Grouping
South-east Asian leaders ended a two-day summit in the Laotian capital Vientiane with a calculated political stab in the back from a fellow member of their regional group, Burma.POLITICS-THAILAND: Thaksin’s Stability Game Pays Off
When Thailand's parliament finished its final session this month, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra entered a realm that had been denied to the 22 premiers before him. He became the first to complete his full four-year term in office.HEALTH: Tobacco Companies, the Masters of Deceit – Journal
Finally, the world has a stark picture of the plots hatched by tobacco multinationals to lure Asians to smoke.BURMA: Hidden Weapons of War Continue Cruel Maiming
Refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border reveal more than the tale of villagers fleeing their homes to escape the bullets of the Burmese army. They also offer a glimpse into the pervasive use of landmines as a weapon of war.ASIA: Govt-NGO Partnership, the Key to Millennium Goals?
Four years after it was launched, a global programme with a drab title - the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - is becoming a rallying cry for a broad spectrum of activists from across Asia and the Pacific.POLITICS-BURMA: Mass Prisoner Release Another Junta Ploy
The initial euphoria that greeted the freedom granted to nearly 4,000 prisoners, recently released from jails in military-ruled Burma, seems to be dissipating fast. For all it may be, this amnesty might not necessarily translate into possible political reform.ENVIRONMENT: Conservationists Rethink Global Poverty
The world's poor may soon find a new ally stepping into their communities with a sympathetic ear to help lift them out of poverty - the global conservation movement.ENVIRONMENT: Towards Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
Alarmed by the pace at which consumer-driven lifestyles are destroying the planet's resources, a leading environmental body has set its sights on creating a green-friendly haven replete with houses, restaurants, shops and hotels.ENVIRONMENT-ASIA: Activists Capitalise on Cracks in the Media
Environmental activists from countries that share the Mekong River are helping to shed light on the cracks emerging within some of the oppressive governments in the region. Permitting space for the right to free expression is one of them.POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Cry the Beloved Country 10 Years Later
Ten years after she was elected as Sri Lanka's first woman president, Chandrika Kumaratunga presides over a nation unable to escape the curse of being burdened by self-inflicted wounds.RIGHTS-ASIA: Fight Child Prostitution By Curbing Demand – Groups
Child rights experts are urging governments and societies across East Asia and the Pacific to shed their long-held cultural practices and throw their weight behind children in order to save them from being exploited as prostitutes.RIGHTS-THAILAND: Keeping a Look Out for Human Cargo
Besides keeping a close watch for narcotics, the policemen who monitor the flow of vehicles from the Burmese border to this northern Thai town are on guard for a different type of merchandise - women and girls being trafficked into a thriving sex industry.ENVIRONMENT: Wooing Asia’s Voracious Consumers to Be Planet’s Protectors
To some, China's voracious appetite for timber from the forests of Indonesia, the Congo and South America will have dire consequences on the planet's future.POLITICS: Regional Muslim Solidarity Puts Thailand in Tough Spot
The aftermath of last week's carnage in south Thailand is beginning to take its toll on the Thai government in the midst of vitriolic criticism from regional neighbours of Bangkok's policies towards its Muslim minority.RIGHTS: Asia Still Dangerous for Journalists
It may have one of the most vibrant media environments in Asia - with journalists having freedom to write just about anything - yet the Philippines ranks after Iraq as one of the deadliest places for reporters.RIGHTS-THAILAND: Muslim Leaders Doubt Official Version of Killings
The Thai government's credibility among the country's Muslim minority has taken a nosedive thanks to the cavalier approach Bangkok has adopted in explaining the deaths of 78 men and boys while in military custody following a protest early this week in the southern province of Narathiwat.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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