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Tuesday, April 21, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
When Asia Put Some Dictators Behind
As Egypt takes tentative steps to replace ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade authoritarian rule with a democratic culture, its political planners may want to look halfway across the world to the most populous Muslim country for lessons on how to prevent a return to strongman rule.BURMA: China Stands Behind New President
China is throwing its weight behind Burma’s predicted political transformation from military rule to a supposed civilian government, deepening its strong economic ties with the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation some have described as Beijing’s "client state".Rohingyas Flee Burma by Boat
On a beach dotted with swanky, star-class hotels, a boatload of bedraggled men appeared out of the dark sea one midnight, exhausted from nearly two weeks at sea fleeing Burma’s repressive military.DEATH PENALTY: New Hope for Sentenced Malaysian
A young Malaysian’s legal battle to escape the hangman’s noose in Singapore is finding new hope. "He has a 50-50 chance of being spared," Madasamy Ravi, the lawyer appearing for 23-year-old Yong Vui Kong, said in a telephone interview from the city-state.VIETNAM: Communist Party Steps on Already Stifled Newspapers
A week after Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party ended its pivotal congress of the country’s political elite, there is little evidence in the state-controlled media of a possible return to the openness that once saw high-profile corruption scandals exposed in print here.Dipping Dollar Hits Burmese Refugees
Tracking gun battles along the Thai-Burma border and preparing for another wave of refugees are not the only things that concern British humanitarian Sally Thompson.FOOD: The Rats Have It
While floods and droughts are often highlighted in the media for devastating the world’s rice production, a lesser-known culprit has been able to scurry away without being fingered for causing damage - rats.VIETNAM: Communists Gag the Web
By clamping down on the Facebook.com social networking service, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party is revealing its discomfort with the rapidly expanding avenue for free expression even as it pushes to transform the once poor agrarian nation into a modern industrial society by 2020.CAMBODIA: Chinese Dams Challenge Western Development Monopoly
A steady rise of new dams in Cambodia is becoming a platform for the country’s prime minister to showcase where the Southeast Asian kingdom’s ties with China - a late arrival among Cambodia’s foreign aid and development partners - is headed.TRADE: China Opens New Markets for Asian Economies
In response to growing labour costs, China is increasingly turning to its neighbours to supply what it once produced locally - raw materials and intermediate goods, such as machine components and parts - to retain its international reputation as the ‘factory to the world’.BURMA: Junta’s Drug ‘Exports’ to China Test Economic Ties
As military-ruled Burma prepares to unveil its new political cast, an enduring link between the junta and the country’s notorious drug lords is poised to come under the spotlight.CAMBODIA: Aid Dependence May Hurt Successes in HIV, AIDS
Thanks to a healthy cocktail of foreign aid and a pragmatic condom policy, one of South-east Asia’s poorest countries is well on course to meeting an international target aimed at reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS.THAILAND: Online Censorship Triggers Fear among Bloggers
When he is not designing another house for this city’s sprawling urbanscape, a Thai architect in his mid-forties worries about another run-in with this kingdom’s cyber police.BURMA: Ethnic Rebels Resist Junta’s March Toward Final Frontier
An ongoing clash along the Thai-Burma border, pitting Burmese troops against ethnic insurgents, is raising the spectre of more violence in areas that the Burmese military sees as the final frontier to putting the country under the grip of one army for the first time in over six decades.LAOS: World Bank-backed Dam Powers Ahead, Despite Social Cost
As the World Bank returns to the big dam business with the inauguration of Laos’ largest hydropower project, it is coming under the scrutiny of familiar adversaries: green groups and grassroots activists.POLITICS: U.N. Faces Hurdles As It Seeks Mediator’s Role in Burma
Barely a week after a ranking United Nations official visited military-ruled Burma, the country’s strongman has sharply reminded the global body about the challenges that await any envoy who refuses to march in step with the junta.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Indonesia’s Forests Loom As Green Gold
All eyes are on Indonesia and its forest policy as climate- change negotiations continue in the upcoming global talks in Mexico, against the prospect of billions of dollars flowing from the planet’s major polluters to the developing world to slow global warming.BURMA: After Suu Kyi’s Release, Dangerous Time Sets In
A dilapidated colonial villa on the banks of the Inya Lake in Rangoon, Burma’s largest city, has regained its identity as a home – instead of a prison – following the Saturday release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of the military-ruled country’s democracy movement.BURMA: Junta’s Asian Friends Close Ranks, Endorse Poll
A political fault line has emerged just days after Burma’s junta held the country’s first election in two decades, one that was held on Nov. 7 with near military precision to ensure a sweeping victory for the military regime’s allies.BURMA: If Freed, Suu Kyi Would Face New Political Landscape
To some in her country she is known as "The Lady," and to others, the more endearing "Aunty Suu." Yet beyond the borders of Burma, which has endured nearly 50 years of oppressive military regimes, Aung San Suu Kyi has been long regarded as the icon of the country’s struggling democracy movement.FINANCE: Ahead of G-20 Summit, Capital Controls Gain New Currency
South Korea’s closing of ranks with Asian countries that have recently embraced capital controls signifies that such measures will be up for discussion at next week’s summit of the world’s 20 major economies in Seoul.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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