Siam News Network

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, on a visit to Burma, says European Union economic sanctions will not change until authorities release all political prisoners.  The top British diplomat made the comments after holding separate meetings with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s military-backed leaders.  Hague held talks Friday ...

Bloomberg News ANZ has received approval to sell its 9.6% stake in Vietnam’s Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, known as Sacombank, to Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Eximbank. ANZ established its relationship with Sacombank in 2005, but its self-branded business has grown significantly larger ...

Associated Press Indonesian activists gather sandals at the office of Indonesian Commission for Child Protection in Jakarta to protest the prosecution of a 15-year-old boy for stealing an old pair of sandals from a police officer. More In Indonesia Amobee Focuses on the Rest of Asia Indonesians Praise Ghost-Buster ...

Author: Sandy Gordon, ANUSouth Asia is a vast region encompassing eight nations (if we include Afghanistan) and over one-fifth of humanity.It is difficult to do it justice in this short summary of the year’s events.Foremost among the region’s significant developments is the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US ...

Burma is set to hold a by-election April 1 in a vote in that will test democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.Burmese government officials, who asked not to be named, informed media organizations of the election date Friday.  Forty-eight parliamentary seats will be at stake.  ...

By Shibani Mahtani and James Hookway Reuters Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros speaks at the Central European University in Budapest in November. Billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist George Soros is scheduled to become the next big international name to meet with Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu ...

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba has met with Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, seeking to assure her of Tokyo's full support for expanded democratic governance in the Southeast Asian nation. Gemba held talks Monday with the Nobel laureate at her residence in Rangoon, and later told reporters he wants ...

Bloomberg A Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) train travels past public housing complexes in Singapore in March 2010. Four severe subway outages in five days and hundreds of thousands of agitated commuters later, Singapore’s beleaguered transport officials might be forgiven for wishing for a turn of luck. But fate’s a ...