Southeast Asia News

Fifty-four migrant workers from Myanmar suffocated in the back of a seafood truck in southern Thailand while being smuggled to the popular resort island of Phuket, police said Thursday.

An additional 47 workers survived the incident late Wednesday in Ranong province and flagged down police for help, police Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai said. Twenty-one were hospitalized while the rest were detained for questioning, he said.

'When police got to the scene, they found that 54 of the workers were already dead in the packed container truck,' Kraithong said. Read more

Robbers shot and wounded six people at Malaysia's main international airport before fleeing with $1 million, police and news reports said. via MyFox St. Louis

Dubai Group, the leading diversified financial services company of Dubai Holding, announced today that it has invested $49.5m for approximately 30% of Malaysia's GBD Investment Limited , the largest biodiesel ... via AME Info

Sharjah: Low-cost carrier Air Arabia has announced the launch of daily flights between Sharjah, UAE, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a joint venture with FlyYeti.com. Air Arabia will operate the Sharjah-Kathmandu ... via Gulfnews

“The excesses of our struggle were not something we wanted, but something we couldn't avoid”

Mr Guterres was the leader of one of the most feared militias The only pro-Indonesia militia leader to be convicted over the violence which engulfed East Timor in 1999 has been freed from jail. via BBC

“We're still trying to establish the motive for the killing”

A gunman on a motorcycle shot dead a Philippine newspaper columnist in Manila, the first journalist killed this year in the Southeast Asian nation, police said. via Manawatu Evening Standard

Indonesian Internet companies blocked access to YouTube and MySpace on Tuesday, heeding a government order aimed at stopping people from watching an anti-Islam film by a Dutch lawmaker.

Anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders posted the 15-minute film on the Internet on March 27. It has since been widely available on blogs and file-sharing sites.

Indonesia's main Internet service providers all said they had temporarily blocked YouTube, MySpace, Google Video and other file-sharing Web sites. Read more

“Holding the Vietnamese flag and shouting profanity, I don't know if it's even politics anymore. We're young people, we're second-generation and we just don't understand”

There seem to be few boundaries when it comes to displaying the South Vietnamese flag on the streets of Little Saigon: The red and yellow banner flutters from rooftops and store windows, adorns T-shirts and ball caps, and is even painted on cars.

But when the flag adorns a plastic pedicure basin, it's another story.

Protesters have picketed outside the Vietnamese-language newspaper Nguoi Viet for more than two months, ever since it published a picture of a yellow foot-washing basin lined with the flag's three red stripes. Read more

A Bangladeshi airliner made an emergency landing Tuesday in Bangkok after a man pulled out a knife during the flight and caused panic among passengers, police and airport officials said.

There were no injuries aboard the GMG Airlines flight, which was carrying about 70 passengers from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, said police Lt. Gen. Watcharapol Prasanrachakij.

Thai authorities boarded the plane at Bangkok's Don Muang airport and removed the passenger, who was identified as a Bangladeshi citizen. Read more

“I will know only when I get home to my own house, to the site where I was shot”

East Timor's president is considering stepping down after surviving an assassination attempt and cannot promise he will complete his five-year term, an Australian newspaper reported Tuesday.

Jose Ramos-Horta was recuperating in the northern Australian city of Darwin after being shot twice by army mutineers outside his home in East Timor's capital, Dili, on Feb. 11.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who last year became the tiny country's second president since independence from Indonesia in 2002, told The Australian newspaper he would return to his homeland but that he craved a quieter life. Read more

“Vietnam has undergone many changes but one thing remains unchanged: Vietnam is still a friend of Belarus”

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko pays an official two-day visit to Vietnam Monday, President Nguyen Minh Triet said. via Thanh Nein News

“I believe this conference will result in better cooperation as well as closer ties between Malaysia and Indonesia”

KUCHING: Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed in principle to conduct air patrols over their shared land border to improve security. via The Star Online

“However, ice cream with high GWL contents also showed unpleasant effects, such as the decrease of overrun and the increase of particle size of fat globule”

Wine lees, the sediment left in the bottom of the barrel after winemaking, could boost the antioxidant profile of ice cream and slow the melting time of ice cream, suggests a new study from Taiwan. via FoodNavigator

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo convened a food summit with top officials and farm experts on Friday, looking for ways to prevent the emerging rice crisis from severely affecting the world's ... via People's Daily Online

Cambodia has suspended marriages between foreigners and Cambodians amid concerns over an explosion in the number of brokered unions involving poor, uneducated women, an official said yesterday. via Taipei Times

“I will stop, honestly, if they (Abdullah and his supporters) will stop doing what is wrong, which has caused UMNO to lose in this election”

Malaysia's past and present prime ministers on Sunday traded barbs and accusations over responsibility for the ruling party's disastrous performance in the recent general elections. via ABS-CBN News

Australia pledged $458,000 Thursday for Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, whose operations have been threatened by a shortage of funds as it prepares for trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Bob McMullan, the Australian parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, announced the pledge during a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.

He said his government made the decision to help pay Cambodia's share of the expenses because 'we want to make sure that the resources are available so that this important step in justice is capable of being properly undertaken.' Read more

“This is not unusual. Almost every country in the world has a Chinatown, so why shouldn't Laos have one?”

A high-rise Chinatown that is to go up by Laos' laid-back capital has ignited fears that this nation's giant northern neighbor is moving to engulf this nation.

So alarmed are Laotians that the communist government, which rarely explains its actions to the population, is being forced to do just that, with what passes for an unprecedented public relations campaign.

The 'Chinese City' is a hot topic of talk and wild rumor, much of it laced with anxiety as well as anger that the regime sealed such a momentous deal in virtual secrecy. Read more

“Since then, we have not used the term 'refugees'. That is why their demand on social aid does not make sense because that fund does not exist anymore”

INTERNATIONAL aid agencies evacuated staff from Indonesia's West Timor after violent demonstrations by ex-East Timorese refugees reached a fifth day, social workers said on Saturday. via The Straits Times

“Politicians absolutely must work for the public. They cannot work for their personal gain”

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday threw his support behind the government's plan to amend Thailand's army-backed constitution. via Quamnet