Heavy rains triggered flash floods and caused torrents of cold lava and mud to flow down a volcano’s slopes on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 41 people and leaving more than a dozen others missing, officials have said. Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to...
At least 800 people in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province have been evacuated after multiple eruptions of the area's Ruang volcano, which for days has spewed lava and ash clouds into the sky, the country's volcanology agency said on Wednesday....
The northern municipality of Sara has declared a state of calamity due to severe impacts from the El Niño phenomenon on its agriculture. Vice Mayor Ryan Zerrudo announced the decision on Friday morning, April 12, after a special session of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB)....
The Chinese fishing fleet is responsible for systemic illegal fishing and human rights abuses in countries bordering the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO), undercutting China’s claims of supporting sustainable development and thriving blue economies in the region, according to a new report published today by the Environmental...
A coalition of opposition forces in Myanmar has taken control of the busiest border crossing into Thailand. The military regime which seized power in Myanmar three years ago has suffered another big defeat, this time on the eastern border with Thailand. Troops had suffered weeks of attacks by ethnic Karen insurgents, allied with...
Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament have overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill hat would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender. The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of...
A West Papua freedom movement leader is renewing calls for a UN human rights visit to Papua after new videos of Indonesian soldiers torturing a West Papuan man emerged online.
Amnesty International Indonesia is calling for an evaluation of the placement of TNI (Indonesian military) in Papua after a video of a Papuan man being tortured by several soldiers at the Gome Post in Puncak regency, Central Papua, went viral on social media. “This incident was a [case of] cruel and inhuman torture that really...
Indonesian authorities recovered two bodies from the shores of West Aceh on Saturday and said local fishermen reported several other drowning victims washed up after a vessel carrying Rohingya migrants capsized off the coast earlier this week. More than 70 Rohingya were "presumed dead or missing", which if confirmed would be the...
The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has significantly enhanced global trade by introducing the Integrated Maritime Service (IMS), facilitated by VASI Shipping, at the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam....
Indonesian rescuers stepped up search efforts for 21 missing Indonesian fishermen on Thursday night, officials said, with another survivor found after their boat capsized days earlier leaving two dead. At least 12 crew have been found after they survived for days by clinging to their boat when it overturned on Saturday in waters...
President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) Nguyen Dinh Khang has engaged in discussions with representatives of labour unions from Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay, as part of his working trip to South America and attendance to the second conference of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) Presidential...
On the day that Indonesia went to the polls — Valentine’s Day, February 14 — Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), accused Jakarta’s military of continuing its “reign of terror” in rural West Papua....
Quick count tallies by independent agencies show the pair with nearly 60 per cent of the votes. Indonesia’s presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka are ahead of their rivals in the Feb 14 polls, unofficial quick counts of sample ballots showed....
Separatist fighters who seized Phillip Mehrtens say he will be released to protect humanity and safeguard human rights, but did not say when. Rebels in Indonesia’s West Papua region have said they will release a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage a year ago as a bargaining chip for their independence movement....
Bandarban district administration has safely evacuated 240 families from the bordering Ghumdum area in Naikhongchhari of Bandarban district. The evacuation was made on Wednesday following an instruction of Bandarban Deputy Commissioner Shah Mozahid Uddin. They will stay in a safe place until the situation becomes normal, said...
The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) requested Laos at a meeting on Monday to join the other 164 countries attending the Ottawa Convention while Cambodia is chair and hosts the 5th Review Meeting of the organisation....
Three Cambodian activists arrested in Thailand will not be deported to their homeland and will be resettled elsewhere, a deputy police chief said on Wednesday, after human rights groups had raised concern about their fate if sent home.
Indonesian defence minister and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto has extended a commanding lead in the polls ahead of February's election, with a series of recent surveys showing the former general now has a more than 20-point lead....
Indonesian authorities halted the search for 12 climbers after Mount Marapi volcano erupted again, unleashing a new burst of hot ash as high as 800 metres into the air, officials said....
Indonesian court documents have revealed for the first time the chain of events that led to toxic ingredients being used in cough syrup that was among the products blamed for the deaths of more than 200 children in the country last year....
The military’s long-standing policy of “divide and rule” is breaking down as ethnic resistance groups gain the upper hand across the country. It is notoriously difficult to track battlefield developments in Myanmar’s sprawling civil war. The conflict involves countless armed groups, broadly sorted into territory-holding...
Two days after rebel forces in Myanmar’s Chin state overran the junta’s two military bases close to the border with India, they have taken control of a border crossing point between the two countries across the tiny hilly Indian state of Mizoram....
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu today pledged that immediate action will be taken against those found to be hoarding rice seeds. Speaking in Parliament today, he said authorities have already made arrests related to rice hoarding in 20 locations....
North Korean nationals continue to run a restaurant in Laos to earn income for the Pyongyang regime, a new U.N. report shows, despite international sanctions that ban such activity....
