Anand urges Vientiane to find Somphone

Published on Jan 11, 2013 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun has appealed to the Lao government to do more to locate the missing activist Sombath Somphone, who disappeared in Vientiane nearly a month ago. Read more from Jim Pollard in The Nation. .

Vietnam Jails More Bloggers

Published on Jan 11, 2013 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The Vietnamese government has jailed 14 people for terms of three to 13 years for ‘plotting to overthrow the state,’ outraging human rights groups who say all were simply social justice campaigners and citizen journalists. Most were Roman Catholics with links to Viet Tan, or the Vietnam Reform Party, a U.S.-based organization outlawed by Hanoi as a militant group. Charges also included the spreading of anti-state propaganda. Read more from The Diplomat. .

Missing: Sombath Somphone

Published on Jan 9, 2013 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — A few weeks ago on December 15th, a mild-mannered but well-known NGO worker in Laos, Sombath Somphone, was following his wife home after dinner in Vientiane. They drove in separate cars but the 60-year-old Somphone never arrived and has been missing ever since. Read more in The Diplomat.       .

Disappearing, Marcos Billions

Published on Jan 8, 2013 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — A shortage of funds and a resurgence of political power within the Marcos family have cast a shadow over the hunt for billions-of-dollars that went missing when Ferdinand Marcos was ousted as president, with a recommendation that the Philippine Government wind down its almost 30-year search. That advice came from the Presidential Commission on Good Government which has led investigations aimed at retrieving the estimated U.S.$10 billion the Marcos family amassed between 1965 and 1986 when a bloodless popular revolt forced Marcos out of office and into exile. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Climate Change in The Philippines

Published on Jan 2, 2013 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Almost a year after Typhoon “Sendong” devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in the northern part of Mindanao, Philippines in December 2011, the historically “typhoon-free” island experienced another similarly rare and intense tropical storm that struck earlier this month. Super Typhoon “Pablo” slammed into Siquijor, Misamis Oriental, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Compostela Valley, and Davao Oriental, hitting some of the same cities and towns still recovering from the havoc suffered during Sendong. Read more from Kourtnii S. Brown in The Diplomat.   .