BANGKOK - Pope Francis arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday to begin a tour of Thailand and Japan, beginning a mission to boost the morale of those countries' tiny minority Catholic communities and speak about issues of concern including human trafficking …
General
Thai Opposition Leader Convicted, Disqualified From Parliament
KUALA LUMPUR - A Thai court Wednesday convicted opposition party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit of holding shares in a media company while running for office, an election law breach that disqualifies the rising star of the country's pro-democracy movement from Parliament.…
Small in Numbers, Thai Catholics Preserve Centuries-Old Traditions
BANGKOK - The last time Vararunee Khonchanath was in the presence of a pope was before she was born just over 35 years ago, but when Pope Francis visits Bangkok later this week to bless Thailand's tiny Catholic minority she …
Asian Nations at Odds over Sovereignty Join up to Fight Marine Trash
TAIPEI - An agreement among Southeast Asian leaders this month to fight floating plastics in the South China Sea and surrounding waterways marks an upswing in cooperation among countries that normally compete over sovereignty.
Heads of state from the 10-member …
Measles Spread Prompts Samoa to Declare State of Emergency
MELBOURNE - Samoa declared a state of emergency this weekend, closing all schools and cracking down on public gatherings, after several deaths linked to a measles outbreak that has spread across the Pacific islands.
The island state of about 200,000, …
In Hong Kong, Chinese Soldiers’ ‘Voluntary’ Street Cleaning Stirs Worries
HONG KONG - Dozens of Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers helped clear protester barricades from a street Saturday, emerging from their barracks for the first time since protests engulfed the semiautonomous Chinese territory five months ago.
Pro-democracy lawmakers immediately condemned …