Since the Korean War of the 1950s, the People’s Republic of China has been one of North Korea’s closest friends and allies, and since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, one of its only ones. It is well-known that North Korea’s trading partnership with the PRC is crucial to the survival of its regime. In exchange for millions… Read more »
Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn became the new King of Thailand Thursday after being invited by Parliament to succeed his father. When King Bhumibol Adulyadej died two months ago, many were worried that Thailand would fall into a period of instability. Although his corronation will not take place until his father is cremated next… Read more »
The government of Australia has two distinct policies they practice on refugees and asylum seekers attempting to enter their country, either they are turned around in what are called “turn backs”, where the refugees are sent back to the country they were attempting to flee, or they are placed in detention centers on the islands of Papau New Guinea and… Read more »
BBC: South Korean police say they have arrested a man accused of setting fire to the birthplace of the father of embattled President Park Geun-hye. The memorial hall for Park Chung-hee, the country’s former military ruler, was badly damaged in the blaze. Police quoted the suspect as saying the president should have resigned or killed herself, South Korean news agency… Read more »
BBC: Protesters campaigning against the Australian government’s treatment of asylum seekers have breached parliament security for a second day. Two protesters abseiled down Parliament House in Canberra, unfurling a banner saying “close the bloody camps now”. Australia sends asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Al Jazeera: All residents in China’s largely Muslim region of Xinjiang must hand in their passports to local police stations for “examination and management”, according to Global Times, a state-funded newspaper . “Anyone who needs the passport must apply to the police station,” an anonymous police officer in Aksu prefecture told the paper on Thursday, adding that the policy had… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Government troops have killed at least 11 members of a rebel group in the southern Philippines that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the military said, sending local communities fleeing as a battle raged on Sunday. The Maute Group, one of a handful of small armed groups behind years of… Read more »
Myanmar, formerly Burma, one of the world’s most corrupt nations, elected a new leader last year, Nobel Prize winner Suu Kyi, who ran on promises of ethnic reconciliation. Myanmar has a population of 53 million people, one million of whom belong to an Islamic ethnic minority group known as Rohingyas. They are often viewed as intruders from Bangladesh, a country… Read more »
Reuters: A major border crossing between China and Mongolia has imposed new fees on commodity shipments between the two countries, amid a diplomatic row sparked by the visit to Ulaanbaatar of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama last week. The Dalai Lama is cherished as a spiritual leader in predominantly Buddhist Mongolia, but China regards him as a dangerous… Read more »
Reuters: China has told Myanmar that they should work together to stabilize their shared border, in the wake of a series of attacks by ethnic armed groups on Myanmar security forces and thousands of people crossing into China to escape the violence. The attacks this month dealt a major blow to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s top goal of… Read more »