Imran Vittachi

Deputy Managing Editor, BenarNews

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Hopes are fading fast for Thailand's Pita Limjaroenrat in his efforts to become prime minister.

[BenarNews @BenarNews]

Hopes for pro-democracy politician Pita Limjaroenrat to become Thailand's prime minister dim further as the Constitutional Court suspends him as an MP and Parliament blocks a second vote for him as a PM candidate. https://t.co/CVQnChxe55

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Now comes the hard part as Thailand's frontrunner for prime minister heads into the home stretch after the May 14 general election.

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Thailand's new parliament appoints an MP from the country's insurgency-stricken Deep South as House Speaker, as the two leading opposition parties in a pro-democracy alliance end their squabbling over who should serve in that role:
https://t.co/bZwmTOWPyT

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

https://t.co/7SIb3EVjfR

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Indonesia's government on Tuesday launched a program to compensate victims of past human rights abuses and their relatives but rights advocates want the Widodo administration to do more and prosecute perpetrators of atrocities committed by state forces.
https://t.co/bVa94awvHN

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

The Batanes Islands are the Philippines northernmost territory, but lie relatively close to the strategic #Bashi Channel and #Taiwan. Residents of the chain worry their islands could be in the line of fire should war break out between China and Taiwan.
https://t.co/OR4k5gokAc

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

After being extradited to Thailand, four Thai nationals are charged under Malaysia's anti-trafficking laws in connection with the 2015 discovery of the jungle graves of smuggled migrants along the Thai-Malaysia border.

https://t.co/MwA38kZSjo

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Many among Indonesia's army of migrant workers in Malaysia can easily fall prey to exploitative working conditions, labor rights advocates say.

https://t.co/f6QqvGE1Uy

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

The Samoan prime minister is calling on cabinet ministers to practice good governance and be transparent, after a minister was criticized for links to a Hong Kong tour company, as Samoa tries to lure tourists from the vast China market.
https://t.co/1HzBC8mXLk

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Tycoon She Zhijiang, who owns property and gaming ventures in Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines, stands accused of “running illegal online gambling operations,” and will soon likely face deportation to China from Thailand.
https://t.co/x0e0BaJ26P

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

A possible pardon for George Speight, the imprisoned leader of Fiji’s violent coup in 2002 could create political instability when Fiji is central to U.S. efforts to counter China’s increased influence in the Pacific.
https://t.co/J1Cv04Y5Y7

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken caps off high-stakes visit to Beijing through last-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who expressed hope that the visit would contribute “to stabilizing China-U.S. relations.”
https://t.co/7y72dXrVlt

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Fishermen in southern Thailand are struggling to make ends meet in once bounteous waters.
Elders are urging the younger generation to look for other occupations.

https://t.co/DWjYGtSrqr

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Sen. Imee Marcos has initiated a Senate probe into the decision by the government headed by her brother to negotiate with the U.S. over a request from the Biden administration that Manila allow an unknown number of Afghan refugees into the Philippines.
https://t.co/gmDeJ4deF5

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Argentine court hearings into a criminal complaint of genocide by Myanmar’s armed forces against the Muslim Rohingya minority are due to wrap up in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
https://t.co/wxJTX6Bdse

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

In the island nation of Tuvalu, where Pacific Ocean waters encroach on its shores because of climate change, land is scare for growing fresh vegetables and produce. But efforts are underway to reclaim the main atoll so Tuvalu's people can survive.
https://t.co/1WHyf6yQN5

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

In his first international speech as the Chinese defense minister, Li Shangfu hits out at the U.S. saying “it practices exceptionalism and double standards and only serves the interests and follows the rules of a small number of countries.”
https://t.co/gSLvd5JreP

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

At an international security conference in Singapore, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin calls dialogue with China “a necessity,” as Beijing accuses the United States of “destroying” stability in the Taiwan Strait.
#shangrila
#TaiwanStrait
#ASEAN
https://t.co/avQ1mMjb2W

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Philippines, U.S. and Japanese coast guards begin unprecedented trilateral exercises amid tensions with China over the South China Sea.

[BenarNews @BenarNews]

The coast guards of defense allies the Philippines, United States and Japan kicked off their first-ever joint drills Thursday in waters adjacent to the South China Sea amid tensions with Beijing in that contested maritime region.
https://t.co/DrPKv4eCAh

[Imran Vittachi @IVittachi]

Bali - a paradise lost to tourists?

[BenarNews @BenarNews]

Made Satri walks to the edge of her rice field, places a basket of yellow rice offerings on a small bamboo shrine and prays to the Hindu goddess of rice and fertility, Dewi Sri, for a bountiful harvest.
https://t.co/kLthRR0If6