South East Asia

by Stefano Vecchia | PHILIPPINES

Demand is growing in Europe, especially in the health and long-term care sectors. Migrants’ contribution to the Philippine economy is critical, but they need legal protection and support, as well as repatriation plans in case of need. In 2023, remittances hit a record US$ 37.2 billion, or 8.5 per cent of GDP, the largest amounts coming from the United States, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

by Steve Suwannarat

South Korea has introduced a voluntary repatriation programme for illegal migrants that would avoid expulsion and include a waiver on heavy fines. At the end of 2023, some 423,675 foreigners were staying illegally in the East Asian country out of more than 2.5 million. About 145,000 Thais, who are more than a third of all foreigners staying illegally, could benefit from the measure.

| 20/12/2024
| THAILAND – SOUTH KOREA

Provincial authorities in Bolikhamxay are sounding the alarm as drug trafficking and possession cases rise in the past six months. A methamphetamine tablet costs less than 25 cents US in the region.

| 19/12/2024
| LAOS
by Joseph Masilamany

They are 48-year-old Mohammed Farik Amin and 47-year-old Mohammed Nazir Lep, who spent - without trial - 18 years in the Cuban prison. They will now have to serve five more after the proceedings in which they pleaded guilty and cooperated with justice. They will undergo a rehabilitation programme.

| 19/12/2024
| MALAYSIA

In recent weeks, clashes between Myanmar’s military and ethnic militias have intensified on the Thai border. Faced with renewed violence, Thailand has proposed a series of "informal" meetings to reboot the peace process. But representatives of the armed groups have not been invited, and the agenda is unclear. Divisions also remain within ASEAN over Myanmar’s junta.

 

| 18/12/2024
| THAILAND – MYANMAR
by Stefano Vecchia

For the third year in a row, the Philippines is the world's leading importer, with domestic production continuing to fall, due, among things, to La Niña. Food absorbs 40 per cent of expenditures among low-income, resulting in greater social inequalities. Consumption has increased from 14.8 million tonnes in 2020-2021 to 17.4 million this year.

| 17/12/2024
| PHILIPPINES
by Joseph Masilamany

The Kaum Tering and Kaum Penan tribes oppose deforestation of large swathes of unspoiled forest because it risks having a devastating impact on the local ecosystem, known for its biodiversity and rare animal species. Road construction goes hand in hand with greater forest conversion, illegal hunting, and illegal wildlife trade.

| 16/12/2024
| MALAYSIA
Editor's choices
 
by Gianni Criveller
Editor-in-chief Fr Gianni Criveller's wish to AsiaNews readers on the feast that opens this year's Jubilee. "We are close to the Christian communities of Asia who live this time as an occasion for evangelisation. Even in a world marked ...
| 24/12/2024
| ASIANEWS
 
by Dario Salvi
The provincial of the Franciscans custodians of the Holy Sites speaks with AsiaNews about the festivities once again without pilgrims, whose return is ‘linked to the end of the conflict’. The focus is on events in neighbouring ...
| 24/12/2024
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
 
by Joseph Masilamany
As Christmas approaches, the community in the multicultural coastal city is dusting off its traditions, starting with its endangered creole language. Catholicism began to spread in Malaysia from Malacca City. For Sabine Ferrao, the play’s producer, ...
| 23/12/2024
| MALAYSIA
 
The Chinese president is on a three-day visit to the former Portuguese colony 25 years after its return to Chinese sovereignty, providing him with an opportunity to send messages to Hong Kong as well, and stress the potential of the Greater Bay Area. ...
| 20/12/2024
| CHINA – MACAU
 
by Shafique Khokhar
In Kahna Nau, a suburb of Lahore, the joint intervention of the Franciscans, the imam and the police prevented the act of a deranged man who burned pages of the Koran and the Bible from causing new riots. Meanwhile, in Faisalabad, a Sufi group organised ...
| 16/12/2024
| PAKISTAN
 
by Dario Salvi
From Istanbul, the director of the Dominican Study Institute spoke to AsiaNews with a mixture of "exaltation" and "surprise” at the fall of the Assad regime. Turkey has denied rumours that it was directly involved in the regime’s overthrow, ...
| 11/12/2024
| TURKEY – SYRIA
 
In his address at the ceremony in Oslo, 92-year-old Terumi Tanaka warned: “[T]here are 4,000 nuclear warheads, ready to be launched immediately.” This means that, “Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator, at any ...
| 10/12/2024
| JAPAN
 
After six months, the township of Maungdaw has fallen to the AA, while fighting continues in the south of the state. The ethnic Buddhist militia seems set to establish its own state and many fear that it might take revenge against Rohingya after some ...
| 10/12/2024
| MYANMAR
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”