News

Humans and fungi have always coexisted. In fact, among microbes, fungi are our closest relatives, with far fewer genetic differences than there are for bacteria or viruses. So why are we now hearing so much about “mysterious” infections and “killer superbugs” emerging from the fungal world? When ...

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s grand plan to revive ancient trading routes over both land and sea. Since its inception in late 2013, how China has influenced Southeast Asia through the BRI has become central to the debate on China’s keynote global outreach ...

Hundreds of indigenous Karen people in Thailand face evictions from a national park that authorities wish to turn into a World Heritage Site, joining millions in a similarly precarious situation as authorities worldwide push tough conservation laws. The Kaeng Krachan is Thailand’s biggest national park, sprawled ...

Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a ...

An old friend of Thailand has returned from the sea, but vast drifts of plastic block more leatherback turtles from coming ashore to spawn. The news from Kuek Kak Beach on the Phang-nga coast in mid-February delighted marine ecologist Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat as twenty newly hatched ...

In a classroom on the outskirts of Myanmar’s biggest city, a thin, bespectacled university student led about a dozen peers in boisterous chants of “Censorship is a shame!” and “We don’t believe in censorship!”  It was the final rehearsal of a troupe performing “thangyat”, a centuries-old ...

Daycha Siripatra, founder of the Khaokwan Foundation, would have remained largely unknown had the police and anti-narcotics officials not raided the foundation’s premises in Suphan Buri province and seized 200 cannabis plants, some marijuana extract, oil and seeds.  They also arrested senior foundation member Pornchai Choolert and ...

Southeast Asian energy companies, long dependent on fossil fuels, are rapidly turning to renewable energy to answer the mounting demand for electricity in the fast-developing region.  In Indonesia, StarEnergy looks to capitalize on native geothermal resources, made possible by the more than 100 active volcanoes that ...

Countries that rely on large hydropower dams for their electricity suffer higher levels of poverty, corruption and debt than other nations, a study has found. The study by the University of Sussex and the International School of Management in Germany compared the security, political governance, economic development and ...

Lao villagers moved by government order from their homes 10 years ago to make way for a showcase hydropower project have new houses, schools, and clinics in their resettlement areas, but are still left without access to fishing areas or adequate land to farm, sources ...