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Tuesday, April 21, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS: Cluster Munitions Treaty Leaves U.S. Behind
A campaign to rid the world of cluster munitions has still to rope in the U.S. government, a major producer and stockpiler of the deadly payload, on the eve of a key global conference in Laos to ban its production and use.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Civil Society Gives Rights Body A Failing Grade
A year after its creation, a South-east Asian human rights body has earned an unflattering label – that of being a window-dressing exercise to improve the image of a region that is home to governments notorious for suppressing political opponents, rather than expanding civil liberties.BURMA: Poll A Showdown between Dead Strongman and Living One
The ghost of military-ruled Burma’s first strongman, Gen Ne Win, has returned to haunt the South-east Asian nation’s current junta leader, Senior Gen Than Shwe, as the country heads for its first general election in two decades on Nov. 7.ASIA: Irrigation Systems Deserve a Second Look, Say Experts
Asia’s search for ways to feed over one billion new mouths in the next 40 years is prompting experts to call for renewed faith in its wide network of irrigation systems in order to ensure adequate food production.HEALTH: Thai Touch in HIV Care Attracts Doctors from Asia, Africa
Northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province has many charms to draw foreign visitors, from hilltribe communities dressed in colourful ethnic clothes, trips to gentle hills close to the Burmese and Lao borders, excursions to once infamous opium trails and a journey along the Mekong River.BURMA: Ahead of Poll, Junta Faces Off with A Familiar Foe – Radio
As military-ruled Burma heads towards its first general election in two decades in November, its citizens are tuning in to their enduring faith in the old communication order – the power of the radio.DEVELOPMENT: To Feed the World, Gov’ts Break New Ground with Civil Society
For over a decade, seasoned activist Sarojini Rengam’s efforts to storm the bureaucratic barricades at global food security meetings in Rome hardly produced any cracks. The tightly structured agenda at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) gatherings she went to were unequivocal about where activists stood – in the margins.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Activists Vow To Take On First Dam on Lower Mekong
A hydropower dam project in Laos that could permanently scar South-east Asia’s largest river, the Mekong, faces a strong wall of opposition from local and regional green groups determined to protect its pristine environment.POLITICS-THAILAND: Government’s Use of Emergency Law Under Fire
A powerful bomb that ripped through an apartment building on the Thai capital’s outskirts last week – one that killed the suspected bomb maker and three people – has provided the latest twist to an ongoing debate about the Thai government’s continuing use of a harsh emergency law.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Malaria Control Drive Reaches Out to Migrant Workers
As efforts to control malaria intensify in the region, the significance of a busy health clinic in Mae Sot, a Thai town close to the Burmese border, stands out even more.BURMA: Heroin Trade Tears Social Fabric of Ethnic Minorities
Dustbins in a university toilet rarely elicit a second look, but those at one of the oldest universities in Burma’s Kachin State do offer reason to pause. The bins, after all, collect a special form of garbage disposed of by students – hypodermic needles and syringes they have used to inject themselves with heroin.THAILAND: Teachers Take to Guns as Insurgency Targets Schools
Teachers heading for work in the 380 public schools across Thailand’s southernmost province of Narathiwat take more than a bag filled with textbooks and lecture notes. Many go armed with guns.POLITICS-THAILAND: Red-shirt Protest Leaders Up for Trial
A landmark political trial begins on Monday when leaders of an anti-government protest movement, known as the ‘red shirts’, will be hauled before the criminal court to face alleged terrorism charges.THAILAND: Insurgency Turns Malay-Muslim Women into Leaders
When her husband was arrested for links to an insurgency raging in this southern region, Pattama Heemmima joined the ranks of Malay-Muslim women forced into the unfamiliar routine of visiting police stations, military camps and courts to secure the freedom of their imprisoned kin.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Health Inequity Slows Decline in Child Mortality
Cambodia’s partial success in reducing child mortality rates has exposed a fault line of inequity, one that underscores the advantage that the country’s urban population has had over the rural poor.
THAILAND: Red Shirts Bring Politics of Discontent Back to the Streets
After a lapse of four months, Pukkie Mathika was finally able to break her silence, finding her way back to a busy intersection in the heart of an up-market shopping district here in Bangkok to rage against the Thai government.LABOUR: Newly Emboldened Burmese Workers Press for Change
When nearly 1,000 Burmese migrant workers launched a strike at a fishnet factory in north-east Thailand a week ago, activists expected it to be a short burst of anger. After all, this frequently abused labour force was often gripped with fear during brief work stoppages in the past elsewhere in this South-east Asian kingdom.POLITICS: Cautious Optimism on Arms Trafficker’s Extradition to U.S.
In the shadowy global network of arms traffickers, Victor Bout enjoyed a special place, according to Western intelligence sources. He was the poster boy, the kingpin, the lord of this deadly illegal trade.HEALTH: H1N1 Pandemic Is Over, But Vigilance Needed – WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging countries in Asia to remain vigilant about the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, which the international body declared was no longer a pandemic a month ago.DEVELOPMENT: South-east Asian Highway Hits Roadblock in Burma
With its thick forest cover and abundant wildlife, the Dawna mountain range in south-eastern Burma is coming in the way of a flagship highway project being pushed by one of Asia’s premier financiers of roads.BURMA: Military Shake-up Reveals Junta’s Plans for New Gov’t
As the November general election in Burma approaches, the country’s junta is revealing the political designs underway in order to place the powerful military under civilian authority after a lapse of 22 years.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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