Author: Phyo Mg Wai

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in the Thai capital of Bangkok to demand that conservative senators stop blocking the naming of a prime minister belonging to a winning coalition formed from May’s general election, a stance that risks a potentially destabilizing political deadlock. Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in the Thai capital of Bangkok to demand that conservative senators stop blocking the naming of a prime minister belonging to a winning coalition formed from May’s general election, a stance that risks a potentially destabilizing political deadlock. Protesters braved heavy rain to show their anger and frustration toward the members of the Senate, who were…

Libya’s state-owned oil company, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), had established last month a new program office, but multiple foreign press reports claim that one of the staff running the office is embroiled in a major fraud case in Kazakhstan. Peter Sztyk, a Canadian lawyer and entrepreneur who also goes by the name “Petro”, has joined a group of foreign consultants who will manage the Office of Strategic Programs, which the NOC inaugurated in February 15 during a meeting with local oil industry executives in Benghazi. Who is Peter Sztyk? The Canadian lawyer graduated in 1993 from Concordia University with bachelor in…

In a recent post I discussed how and why Indonesian banks, both private and state-owned, have recovered strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic and are now posting large profits and paying shareholders billions of dollars in dividends. In another post, I explained how the Philippines is trying to consolidate its state-owned banks so they can be optimized for profitability and provide a source of funding for the country’s new sovereign wealth fund. But while many banks in the region have seen strong post-pandemic recoveries, Thailand’s biggest banks continue to post only modest profits. In 2022, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, and Krungthai Bank collectively held $310 billion…

A series of anti-China protests and attacks on junta troops guarding China-backed pipelines took place on the heels of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Naypyitaw earlier this month. Qin Gang held talks with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on May 2, becoming the first top-level Chinese government official to meet with the regime leadership since the coup in 2021. A regime statement said that Qin Gang’s visit not only displayed the friendship between Myanmar and China but also Beijing’s support for the regime on the international stage. Qin Gang also paid a call on former military dictator Than…

YANGON (Eleven Media Group/Asia News Network): A total of 42 Myanmar nationals who were forced to work in an online gaming company near Mabalacat City in Pampanga Province, the Philippines, were rescued according to the Embassy of Myanmar to the Philippines. Acting on a tip-off, the Philippine National Police carried out an anti-trafficking operation on the night of May 4 and rescued a total of 1,137 foreigners, including 42 Myanmar nationals, forced to work in a large online gaming company. The Embassy of Myanmar to the Philippines cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, the Philippine National…

A popular rapper in Myanmar who criticised the junta over massive power blackouts has been arrested for “spreading propaganda”, the military said, the latest arrest in a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Byu Har posted a Facebook video to his hundreds of thousands of followers on Tuesday slamming the junta for rolling power outages that have hit Myanmar in recent weeks. He mocked junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and said the power supply had been better managed during the government of deposed civilian leader and democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi. Byu Har was arrested for “inciting with the aim of…

HANOI (Reuters): Authorities in Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi are turning off street lights to keep the national power system running amid record temperatures bringing a surge in demand in some parts of the Southeast Asian nation. As weather officials warn the heatwave could run into June, several cities have cut back on public lighting after state utility EVN said rising demand for air conditioning could burden the national grid further. “It’s so harsh and hot outside that people have to wear protective clothing to cool down and not get burned,” said Hanoi resident Tran Van Hung, 67. Temperatures this week…

American comedian and former late-night talk show host, Conan O’Brien, has been in Thailand filming a new travel show for a future broadcast. O’Brien, who is famous for his self-deprecating humor, has been sharing his experiences on social media while visiting the country. Conan Without Borders, his previous travel show that aired from 2015 to 2019, took him to various places around the world, including Cuba, Armenia, Qatar, Haiti, and Greenland, and gained a significant following. In August 2021, O’Brien expressed his interest in continuing the show after the pandemic, and his production company, Team Coco, now oversees his podcasts…

The Federal Reserve blamed last month’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on poor management, watered-down regulations and lax oversight by its own staffers, and said the industry needs stricter policing on multiple fronts to prevent future bank failures. The Fed was highly critical of its own role in the bank’s failure in a report compiled by Michael Barr, the Fed’s chief regulator, and released Friday. As Silicon Valley Bank grew rapidly beginning in 2018, banking supervisors were slow to recognize problems that eventually contributed to the bank’s downfall, including an increasing amount of uninsured deposits and inadequate safeguards against a sudden change…

“The international community’s response to the crisis in Myanmar is failing, and that failure has contributed to a lethal downward spiral that is devastating the lives of millions of people,” Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said at the end of a 10-day official visit to Japan. Referring to the worsening situation in the country, he said Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who has led the junta since the February 2021 coup, had responded to widespread opposition to their rule with “barbarism and oppression” against the people of Myanmar. ‘Hallmarks of the junta’ “Arbitrary detention, torture and systematic…