Developing nations face ‘tidal wave’ of debt repayments to China in 2025: report
China’s role in developing countries’ finances has transformed from capital provider to chief debt collector as a “tidal wave” of repayments due on loans Beijing...
Category : news
Cambodia police seek Thai extradition of critic of the govt’s trade negotiators
See reporting on this topic in Khmer here. A Cambodian woman who criticized Phnom Penh’s inconclusive efforts to negotiate with Washington over trade tariffs is...
North Korean POWs in Ukraine excluded from Moscow-Kyiv prisoner swap: South lawmaker
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Two captured North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia in its war against Ukraine were not among the 1,000 prisoners of war recently...
High-rise collapse exposed Thai failure to protect laborers it needs for construction
BANGKOK – Seven weeks after a deadly earthquake triggered the collapse of a high-rise construction site in Bangkok, labor rights groups say the disaster has...
Too big to conceal: North Korea fesses up to botched warship launch
SEOUL/WASHINGTON – Notoriously secretive North Korea quickly owned up to the botched launch of a 5,000-ton naval destroyer ship that listed sideways in front of...
North Korean warship tough to salvage after launch failure, analysts say
A newly built North Korean destroyer that was damaged during a launch attempt this week may have suffered irreparable harm, analysts said, as the communist...
Chinese factory worker sets fire to textile plant over 800 yuan in unpaid wages
A Chinese factory employee set fire to a textile plant in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in his frustration over unpaid wages of just 800 yuan...
Vietnam to block messaging app Telegram over ‘anti-state’ contents
Updated May 23, 2025, 6:00 p.m. ET Vietnam’s government has instructed telecommunications companies to block the Telegram messaging app after the Ministry of Public Security...
Developing Asia’s laggard Laos faces economic headwinds
BANGKOK – Xay, an auto mechanic from Laos, has been working in Thailand for three years. A combination of rising prices and falling purchasing power...
Antidote to misinformation: Key stories from Asia Fact Check Lab
In recent years, the unchecked spread of online misinformation – fueled by geopolitical tensions, algorithm-driven echo chambers, and state-sponsored propaganda – has posed growing risks...
