ROSEANNE GERIN | Myanmar announced that it will set up an independent inquiry commission to probe human rights violations that occurred during the brutal military crackdown on Rohingyas in Rakhine state that left more than 1,000 dead and drove nearly 700,000 across the border into neighboring Bangladesh. The Myanmar government has come under heavy fire…
Read moreJAKARTA | Indonesia and India pledged to step up defense and maritime cooperation, with plans to develop a strategic Indonesian naval port in the Indian Ocean, the leaders of the two countries said after meeting in Jakarta. Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss, among other issues, developing infrastructure and…
Read moreDetained in 2016, he had spoken in Mandarin about Tibetans’ fear that their culture is being wiped out Tashi Wangchuk’s lawyer Liang Xiaojun told that a judge in Qinghai province passed down the sentence on Tuesday. Tashi, 32, was detained in 2016, two months after the video and accompanying article were published, and went on…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | Bypassing the US, the two Koreas have sprung a huge surprise by holding an unscheduled high level summit to resume the peace process in the peninsula. North Korean Leader Kim Jong–Un and South Korean President Moon Jae–in have met on Saturday to follow up on their April 27 summit, and try take…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has sought Indian help in keeping up the international pressure on Myanmar to take back the Rohingya refugees. During her one hour discussion with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at Santiniketan in West Bengal state, Hasina said Bangladesh has considerably strained its resources to accommodate more than…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina is going back home with some hope of a breakthrough on the vexed issue after her meetings with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Her meeting with Modi on Friday after the inauguration of the Bangladesh Bhavan lasted an hour. On…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | His home state Assam seems to be backing Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi in the latest controversy over his alleged attempt to spend a night with a Kashmiri woman in a Srinagar hotel. Nitin Leetul Gogoi, the Indian Army major who made headlines last year for using a Kashmiri man as human shield…
Read moreSTEPHEN CHEN | China has begun large–scale mining operations on its side of the disputed border with India in the Himalayas, where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals – valued at nearly US$60 billion by Chinese state geologists – has been found. Although mining has been going on in the world’s…
Read moreYANGON | A Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords is responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men, and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017, Amnesty International revealed it after carrying out a detailed investigation inside…
Read moreLOOKEAST REPORT | Marked at a ceremony in Dalian, a key port in northeast Asia and one of six TIR–ready Belt and Road gateways, the first transport operations under TIR will enhance interconnectivity between countries along routes across the region. With the potential to increase the total trade volume among China and other major countries…
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