Beijing reportedly reached an agreement with the two Southeast Asian countries to eliminate the compounds where thousands of Chinese nationals are detained. China recently also announced a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military junta and one of the ethnic resistance militias, but the two sides have not provided any details.

To make cash, the Ministry of Economy is preparing a feasibility study. Paetongtarn Shinawatra talks about “bringing out of the shadows” an activity that would already involve between two and four million Thais. Criticism over moral aspects in a country where Buddhist faith condemns gaming and possible social consequences.

Hambali, who masterminded the attacks in Bali and against Christians, is currently held in Guantanamo. A s part of a policy of repatriating Indonesians incarcerated abroad, Indonesian authorities envisage bringing him home after his group said it was disbanding. Activists argue that helping jailed migrant workers come home and leniency towards a convicted terrorist are not the same.

The annual festival began with the devotion to the image of the Baby Jesus found by the expedition of conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi in 1565. For Archbishop Jose Palma, it is a “true source of joy and hope”. In 2025, El Niño “is the hope,” said  Ruben Labajo, bishop-elect of Prosperidad hope.”

Israel celebrates the release of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari as part of the fragile truce. However, the fate of the foreign workers still being held hostage in the Strip remains a mystery. These include six Thai nationals and one Nepalese national about whose fate nothing has transpired even during negotiations in recent days. The families' fears that “everything may fall apart” before their return.

At least 106 skeletal remains (out of 500 initially found) of Tamil labourers and Allied prisoners of war who died during the Second World War building the infamous railway between Thailand and Myanmar will be cremated. At the end of the rites, the ashes will be placed in a special funerary urn. This posthumous recognition highlights the victims’ fight against the cruelty of their captors as well as diseases.