Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Living the high life
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 24/12/2017
» A week ago today we told a first-time visitor from the beautiful US state of Colorado to forget about seeing "the real, so-called authentic Thailand" because there isn't a square centimetre where tourists do not tread. The next day we set out on a family trip to places with not a foreign face in sight (one obvious exception).
Drug case in the limelight
News, Editorial, Published on 08/02/2017
» Several police agencies were pleased with the arrest on Jan 20 of the alleged drug lord Xaysana Keopimpha. In particular, there were four discrete agencies involved in the case. The main office of the Royal Thai Police, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and the independent Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) have all clung tenaciously to the case. Mr Xaysana is said to be the biggest kingpin arrested in Thailand in more than 40 years. Unfortunately, authorities are treating the case more like a local soap opera instead of the three-nation cross-border crime it appears to be.
Myanmar welcomes US move to ease more sanctions
AFP, Published on 18/05/2016
» YANGON - A US decision to pare back economic sanctions on Myanmar could unclog investment as the country claws its way out of poverty, Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government said Wednesday, welcoming the move.
US eases sanctions on Myanmar citing democratic progress
AFP, Published on 17/05/2016
» WASHINGTON - The US announced Tuesday it was easing economic sanctions on Myanmar after the country returned power to an elected civilian government after more than five decades under repressive military control.
Old anti-drug sanctions killing US-Myanmar trade
Published on 09/11/2015
» WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/YANGON Western banks are cutting trade finance in Myanmar after learning that part of the country's main port is controlled by a man blacklisted by Washington.
Profits from drug trade help fuel Myanmar's boom
Published on 06/06/2015
» YANGON — Visitors flying into this buzzing tropical metropolis step into a modern glass-and-steel airport that symbolises both Myanmar's aspirations to rejoin the wider world after years of isolation and the country's troubled past.
Signed, sealed, undelivered
Alan Dawson, Published on 31/08/2014
» The United Nations and Myanmar are in the process of proving that a nation on the tipping edge of being controlled by criminals can be rescued and brought back to the road to democracy.
Manhattan prices in Yangon
Spectrum, Published on 13/07/2014
» International NGOs are facing strong criticism in Myanmar not for the work they do, but for the large amounts of donor money they spend on renting offices. Recent reports have found that considerable sums are paid for office space in Yangon, where most organisations have their head offices. Adding to the controversy, some of these buildings are owned by members of the military, former generals or businessmen with close connections to the former regime.
Flying higher in Yangon
Asia focus, Published on 19/08/2013
» Yangon’s still-sleepy international airport has grown increasingly busy amid a growing tourist trade, a flood of Western diplomats and NGOs re-establishing themselves in Myanmar, and planeloads of corporate executives coming to see whether all the changes are real.
Passenger takes on alarming role
News, Published on 28/07/2013
» It is admirable that Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul has called for measures to ensure the safety of tourists on the roads in Thailand.