Marwaan Macan-Markar

ANALYSIS As he dismantles a military dictatorship without a shot being fired, Burmese president is resorting to the political art of compromise.

A new book traces Burma’s new diplomatic spring and how China figures in this new image makeover.

They are paying the price of ignoring warnings concerning its climate vulnerability and the incapacity of its soggy foundations to handle flooding.

Weeks after the watershed Singapore general election the influential role of the social media continues to reverberate.

With the force of an emergency law behind it, the Thai government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is tightening the screws on an opposition protest movement that, if mishandled, could extract a heavy political price.

She sang till the very end on a stage she could never call her own. That is how people in this provincial city describe the performances that Wanida Pimdeed gave in Bangkok, some 450 kilometres away, for weeks.

Even as the Thai military warned that its troops would fire live bullets in any imminent confrontation with anti-government protesters in Bangkok, women like Supaporn Sonnorp did not flee.

As the first Malaysian premier to foray into the restive southern province of Thailand, will Najib Abdul Razak be able to push through his ideas on easing unrest in the Malay-Muslim belt?

WHO warning for a possible global pandemic emerging from avian influenza had remained a 'phase three' alert. The swine flu is already at a 'phase five' alert.

In Indonesia, many know him as 'Barry'. To others US president-elect Barack Obama is the 'Menteng Kid' for the primary school he attended while living in South-east Asia's largest country.

A change in Malaysian political landscape affords space for strong opposition voices to rein in the other Asean governments.

Burma's military regime has deployed its 'whiteshirts' against protesting Buddhist monks and civilians.

While the term jihad is often used to refer to armed struggle, many Muslim scholars agree that it denotes a striving of any type including intellectual or spiritual attainment.

new How young tsunami survivors cope after the tragedy

There has been no hint of sympathy from the leaders in the US and EU toward people in the developing world who are directly affected by pandemics and have limited access to expensive drugs.

Burma is among the countries that have ratified the two international conventions to stamp out forced labour, yet it remains a major violator of this illegal form of work.

Thai journalist Somkiat Juntursima is a name that barely registers on the radar of Thailand's media world. Nor the publication he edits, Prachatai , an on-line news website in Thai.

The tsunami has left in its wake a large number of men who have lost their wives and children in this Tamil Tiger-held area. It is these men who echo the sense of despair.

UN officials are worried that the unprecedented amount of aid from rich nations to help the millions displaced by the tsunami may undermine aid needed to help the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty.

Rangoon's military rulers humiliated with the timing of their move to further oppress Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Convenience, not conscience, was the reason behind the recent release of prisoners in Burma, where the junta seems no more amenable to reform than before.