As Thailand gears up for elections, a former titan of the sex industry who flirted with politics and transformed himself into a gadfly going after the rich and powerful is back as a crusader against corruption.
Until recently, China was the world’s top macaque supplier. But in a bid to protect its own vaccine development efforts, Beijing banned their export, leaving Cambodia as the number-one source for a global research industry that was suddenly facing a severe shortfall.
Bangladesh’s High Court on Wednesday in a rare move ordered the government to conduct an inquiry into the March 24 death of a woman in the custody of the Rapid Action Battalion security force, which Washington in 2021 sanctioned for human rights violations.
Malaysia’s parliament on Monday voted to scrap the mandatory death penalty and reduced the number of offenses punishable by hanging, saying capital punishment as a deterrent had not lowered crime.
Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak on Friday lost his final judicial chance to get out of prison when the country’s highest court rejected his request to review its 2022 decision to incarcerate him for corruption, although his lawyer claimed Najib’s legal hopes were still alive.
Pressure escalated against Bangladesh’s leading daily as it was hit with a second Digital Security Act case on Thursday, this time against the editor, over a recent report that a minister said “undermined” the country’s independence.
An International Women’s Day march, a film about a Muslim character exploring other religions’ views on the afterlife, and an interfaith program have all recently become targets of religious conservatives’ outrage in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Thailand’s election in May could result in no party winning a clear mandate, likely forcing the longtime opposition Pheu Thai party and a military-backed one to form an alliance, Thai activists and academics told BenarNews this week.
Two major religious observances coincided in Indonesia on Wednesday as Nyepi, a Balinese Hindu festival, shut down most activity on Bali island for 24 hours, and Muslims prepared to begin the Ramadan month of fasting and prayer.
Extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh fell to 25 or fewer in 2022 from as many as 80 the previous year, the U.S. State Department said Monday as it released its annual report on human rights across the globe.