Bangkok fire department rarely attends fires – but there’s a 24-hour hotline for catching snakes | South China Morning Post

Bangkok fire department rarely attends fires – but there’s a 24-hour hotline for catching snakes | South China Morning Post: To assuage the fear of locals, the fire department conducts training sessions for anyone who wants to learn how to handle serpents terrorising their homes

‘No social licence for whaling’: Australia tells Japan it has lost the argument to resume killing | South China Morning Post

‘No social licence for whaling’: Australia tells Japan it has lost the argument to resume killing | South China Morning Post: Japan claims that certain populations of whales are sufficiently plentiful to allow the International Whaling Commission to lift the ban and allow the country to restart commercial hunts

Thai parties cleared to ‘organise’ but still no gatherings allowed | South China Morning Post

Thai parties cleared to ‘organise’ but still no gatherings allowed | South China Morning Post: A new election law expected to be passed in December will permit more than five people to gather

Policy flip-flops, wary investors: can Lim Guan Eng prove his mettle in Mahathir’s Malaysia? | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post

Policy flip-flops, wary investors: can Lim Guan Eng prove his mettle in Mahathir’s Malaysia? | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post: The freshly minted finance minister has had to allay concerns about his credentials while jousting with defeated leader Najib Razak, all while investors and detractors foreign and domestic await his inaugural budget

Shops threatened with legal action over book about fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low | South China Morning Post

Shops threatened with legal action over book about fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low | South China Morning Post: Free speech campaigners say letters sent to booksellers are attempt to ‘short-circuit legal process’

The Sindhis of Shanghai: how an Indian diaspora cracked China | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post

The Sindhis of Shanghai: how an Indian diaspora cracked China | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post: From the old Silk Road to the new one, there is one community of traders that has proved particularly successful. But then, perhaps they have an advantage: ‘Business runs in our genes’, they say

Lombok island suffers ‘extraordinary occurrence of malaria’ after series of earthquakes | South China Morning Post

Lombok island suffers ‘extraordinary occurrence of malaria’ after series of earthquakes | South China Morning Post: Officials fear efforts to rein in the disease will be complicated by the arrival of the rainy season next month, as malaria-carrying mosquitoes breed in pools of stagnant water

Cambodia: Free All Political Prisoners | Human Rights Watch

Cambodia: Free All Political Prisoners | Human Rights Watch: The Cambodian government should immediately and unconditionally release all those detained for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights.

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Urged to Drop Charges on All Political Prisoners

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Urged to Drop Charges on All Political Prisoners: Rights group, US embassy say recent conditional releases don’t go far enough.

Cambodian NGOs Reject Invitation to Regional Forum on Proposed Lao Dams

Cambodian NGOs Reject Invitation to Regional Forum on Proposed Lao Dams: They say their concerns were ignored by the Mekong River Commission, which is hosting the meeting.

Cambodian Villagers Protest Land Dispute Case in Sihanoukville Province

Cambodian Villagers Protest Land Dispute Case in Sihanoukville Province: Hundreds of residents contend that four people arrested for ‘violently occupying’ land are the rightful owners of the property.

Interview: ‘It Hurts my Heart to See my Children Cry For Their Mother’

Interview: ‘It Hurts my Heart to See my Children Cry For Their Mother’: The husband and mother of a Uyghur woman held in a political ‘re-education camp’ appeal for help in freeing her.

Vietnamese Court Upholds Democracy Advocate's 13-Year Sentence

Vietnamese Court Upholds Democracy Advocate's 13-Year Sentence: Nguyen Van Tuc, a member of the Brotherhood for Democracy, had criticized the government in writings online.

Dalai Lama Meets in the Netherlands With Sex Abuse Victims

Dalai Lama Meets in the Netherlands With Sex Abuse Victims: Western Buddhists say they were abused sexually or psychologically by their Tibetan religious teachers.

#MeToo in the Monastery: A Chinese Abbot’s Fall Stirs Questions on Buddhism’s Path - The New York Times

#MeToo in the Monastery: A Chinese Abbot’s Fall Stirs Questions on Buddhism’s Path - The New York Times: A charismatic rising star was China’s most important leader to be toppled by charges of sexual and financial misconduct.

Malaysia: Ex-PM Najib Razak’s lawyer in the dock for money laundering

Malaysia: Ex-PM Najib Razak’s lawyer in the dock for money laundering: The lawyer leading Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak's defence team is faced with money laundering and tax-related charges

Asian Games experience shows Indonesia cannot run from pollution woes

Asian Games experience shows Indonesia cannot run from pollution woes: Organisers of the Asian Games in Indonesia had been braced for the worst-case scenario: forest fires flaring up and shrouding Palembang, one of the host cities, in a thick, choking haze. Sure enough, air quality problems surfaced — but not in Palembang. Instead, it was in capital of Jakarta.

Brinkmanship or gamesmanship: Taiwan, China and an Olympic-sized feud

Brinkmanship or gamesmanship: Taiwan, China and an Olympic-sized feud: If the People's Republic of China sincerely wants to improve cross-strait relations and avoid provoking further expressions of Taiwanese nationalism, it would do well not to overlook this pride. The East Asian Youth Games incident should serve as a cautionary tale.

Call for Papers: Law and Justice – Indonesia 20 years after ‘Reformasi’

Call for Papers: Law and Justice – Indonesia 20 years after ‘Reformasi’

Call It by Its Name

Call It by Its Name: We have to name the crimes against the Rohingyas, Palestinians, and Kashmiris what they are: genocide, apartheid, and colonialism.

‘Illegal migration’ in Arakan: myths and numbers - New Mandala

‘Illegal migration’ in Arakan: myths and numbers - New Mandala: A look at historical census data yeilds little evidence of widespread illegal migration from Bangladesh.

‘The Current Government’s Machinery is More Like That of The Military Junta’: Interview

‘The Current Government’s Machinery is More Like That of The Military Junta’: Interview: Former Information Minister Ye Hut discusses the Rohingya issue, media freedom, the military, and the government of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Podcast: Traveling to the heart of a story with Tracy Dahlby

Podcast: Traveling to the heart of a story with Tracy Dahlby

Kyaw Hla Aung: “We are not from another land” - The Aurora prize

Kyaw Hla Aung: “We are not from another land” - The Aurora prize: 2018 Aurora Prize Laureate Kyaw Hla Aung is a lawyer and Rohingya Leader from Myanmar. Despite being imprisoned for a collective 12 years for peaceful protests against systematic discrimination and violence, he uses his legal expertise to fight for equality, improvements in education and human rights for his community. Here he talks about his struggles and hopes.

BILLION DOLLAR WHALE by Tom Wright , Bradley Hope | Kirkus Reviews

BILLION DOLLAR WHALE by Tom Wright , Bradley Hope | Kirkus Reviews: Wall Street Journal reporters Wright and Hope tell the story of a massive international financial scandal they initially exposed in the newspaper in 2015, reporting that made them finalists for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize.

Philippines beyond cliches #4: America and development - New Mandala

Philippines beyond cliches #4: America and development - New Mandala: Do Filipinos really look to America for ideas about the 'good life'?

Cariño brutal: the politics of caring in Duterte’s Philippines - New Mandala

Cariño brutal: the politics of caring in Duterte’s Philippines - New Mandala: How does one channel an intimate politics of caring without reinforcing the practices of patronage and clientelism?

Malay anxiety, exclusion, and national unity - New Mandala

Malay anxiety, exclusion, and national unity - New Mandala: By drawing stricter boundaries between what is ‘Islamic’ and ‘un-Islamic’, and between who is ‘Malay’ and ‘non-Malay’, the anxiety about 'Malay unity' is addressed in a post-May 9 Malaysia.

As a new leader rises in Ethiopia, its diaspora dares to dream - The Washington Post

As a new leader rises in Ethiopia, its diaspora dares to dream - The Washington Post

‘I can’t breathe’: In sewage worker deaths, a new India confronts an old scourge - The Washington Post

‘I can’t breathe’: In sewage worker deaths, a new India confronts an old scourge - The Washington Post: Deadly incidents have raised questions about inequality and caste discrimination.