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Sui-Lee Wee
A vendor sells a box of cigarettes across rolls of barbed wire, separating Thailand and Myanmar, in Mae Sot, Thailand, on Aug. 18, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2024
Myanmar’s war has forced doctors and nurses into prostitution
The rise in prostitution is another blow to the status of women in Myanmar.
Then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte holds a sniper rifle next to outgoing Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa during the National Police chief handover ceremony in Camp Crame, Quezon City, in metro Manila, in April 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 29, 2024
Years later, Philippines reckons with Duterte’s brutal drug war
The violence unleashed by the former Philippine leader is finally getting a look, including from the International Criminal Court.
Singapore's new prime minister, Lawrence Wong (left), shakes hands with his predecessor, Lee Hsien Loong, during the swearing-in ceremony at the Istana in Singapore on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 16, 2024
Singapore’s riches grew under its leader. So did discontent.
On Wednesday, the Southeast Asian country’s third prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, handed the reins to his deputy, the first leadership change in nearly 20 years.
A worker inspects solar panels that provide electrical power to Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2023. High-ranking scholars and clergy have issued fatwas, or edicts, on how to rein in climate change. On a smaller scale, Muslim activists are telling their friends, family and neighbors that their duty to save the environment is embedded in the Quran.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 17, 2024
What can ‘Green Islam’ achieve in the world’s largest Muslim country?
Proponents of the movement say educating 200 million Muslims on environmental awareness could drive much needed change.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves a court in Kuala Lumpur on April 3, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2024
Malaysia reduces sentence of disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak
The leniency for Najib comes after weeks of speculation in Malaysia that he might be pardoned by the reigning monarch.
Dang Dinh Bach ran a law and sustainable development policy research center that provided legal aid before he was arrested for tax evasion in Vietnam in 2021. Bach refused to plead guilty and his wife says he has been assaulted in prison by police officers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 29, 2023
Why Vietnam jailed the environmentalists it used to secure billions
The government has arrested several prominent environmentalists from organizations that shaped policies that helped secure funding.
Philippine fishermen catch fish as the sun rises near the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sept. 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 27, 2023
Tensions with China cross a new line in the South China Sea
The Philippines is pushing back against China’s territorial claims. But Beijing's response has raised fears about an escalation in their ongoing row.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 20, 2023
He promised change in Thailand. But will he be allowed to lead?
Supporters see Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, as a politician who represents change and a return to democracy after nine years of military rule that was preceded by a coup.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 25, 2023
Thailand’s most polarizing family rises again before election
An ousted populist’s daughter seeks office, fueling concerns that the return of a divisive political dynasty may revive instability, too.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 5, 2023
A massacre that rippled through generations in Thailand
A former police officer in rural Thailand shot and stabbed more than two dozen children in their preschool in October, the worst mass shooting by a lone attacker in Thailand’s history.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2023
A couple in Singapore shared erotic images in a group chat. The fine: $17,000.
Singapore is not an outlier when it comes to obscenity laws, but it often takes a strict stance on violations, even when they occur in the confines of one’s home.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 12, 2022
Young underground reporters ‘fight a gun with a pen’ in Myanmar
The Southeast Asian nation has seen a relentless crackdown on free expression, with a small literary magazine emerging as one of the few remaining independent media outlets.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 24, 2022
In Myanmar, grief and fury after an attack on a school
For more than a year, the army has been battling resistance fighters. Each day brings news of more people dying, mostly civilians.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2022
From the bones of victims, a doctor unearths the Philippine drug war’s true toll
Forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun is using her skills to show how other doctors falsely claimed some victims of the country's drug war had died natural deaths.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 2, 2022
In the Philippines, young people aim to upend an election
Many have come out in full force for Leni Robredo, the country's vice president, who faces long odds against Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 14, 2022
The Philippines toppled one Marcos. Now his son may become president.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spent decades defending his family's name against accusations of greed and corruption and downplaying the legacy of his father's brutal rule.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 16, 2022
Competing in the Winter Games, without a snowball’s chance
Some competitors have been able to make it to the Olympics in part because of a change in qualifying criteria aimed at producing a more diverse field — a change that has garnered scrutiny.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2021
Stay or go? For Myanmar’s latest wave of refugees, there’s no good choice.
For Biak Tling and his family, who have left Myanmar entirely, it is a life in limbo as they struggle to adapt to a new environment, surrounded by numerous uncertainties about the future.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2021
As holidays near, bosses try to coax Vietnam’s workers back to factories
Workers have fled their factories, managers are struggling to get them back and economists are forecasting that a full recovery in output will not come until next year.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 27, 2021
Aung San Suu Kyi defends herself during ‘show trial’ in Myanmar
In trying to eliminate her as a political force, the junta's case against Suu Kyi has only elevated her in the eyes of many of her countrymen.

Longform

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The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition