Stories from and

Preserving Historic Thai Films

  31 July 2015

The Thai Film Archive has been uploading historic films and vintage news reports on YouTube. One of the films is Chok Song Chun (Double Luck), which is Thailand's first feature silent film produced in 1927. Only 55 seconds of the film have remained featuring a fight scene and car chase....

PHOTO: 141 Dead in Indonesia C-130 Plane Crash

  4 July 2015

Indonesian officials have recovered 141 dead bodies after a military C-130 plane crashed in Medan, the country's third largest city. The plane crashed just two minutes after take off on June 30, 2015. Many of the fatalities were relatives of air force personnel. Authorities are now probing the safety of...

Why the Numbers 64, 89 and 535 Are Missing From the Chinese Internet

  4 June 2015

Today is June 4, the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989. In recent years, some numbers have gone missing on the Chinese Internet because of censorship. These numbers are 64, 89 and 535 — which stands for May 35, a popular way to refer to June 4. They are...

These Maps Show Where Cambodian Journalists Have Been Killed and Harassed

  31 May 2015

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights has launched a portal documenting the human rights violations experienced by Cambodian journalists. Cambodia's constitution guarantees freedom of speech but journalists are still harassed and killed, especially those who report about the abuses committed by local officials and business interests with ties to powerful...

An Online Joke Captures China's Censorship Practices

  28 May 2015

Letscorp, a site devoted to bridging information across Chinese speaking communities, reposted an online joke on Twitter that vividly captures mainland Chinese censorship practices. 老大:官员好不好,百姓说了算。宣传部:我补充一句,大多数百姓不明真相。团中央:没事,我们有一千万网评员保证舆论。公安:还有漏网的我们就抓。央视:再让他们嫖娼。环球:就说他们收了美国人的钱。外交部发言人:依据相关法律和政策,我国有充分言论自由。人民日报:你瞧,这是人民的选择嘛 — 墙外楼 (@letscorp) May 28, 2015 Man on top [implying Chinese president Xi Jinping]: Whether a government official is performing well should be judged by...

Southeast Asia Migration Routes and Statistics

  24 May 2015

The International Organization for Migration has released a map showing the routes taken by boat refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar when they sought shelter in several Southeast Asian countries. As of May 19, 2015, the IOM estimated that 4,000 refugees are still stranded in the sea while 3,200 have already...

Photo of a Mexican Revolutionary Who Looks Like Pacquiao Goes Viral

  2 May 2015

A photo of a Mexican revolutionary who looks like Manny Pacquiao has gone viral few days before the Filipino boxing icon's fight today against Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas for three champions belts (OMB, CMB y la AMB) in the welterweight division. In Twitter there were many tweets related to the picture: Resulta que el abuelo de...

Mapping Cambodia's Land Concessions

  25 April 2015

Licadho, a Cambodian human rights group, has released its dataset of land concessions approved by the government in the past years. The group is now urging the government to release all records related to the land contracts it awarded to domestic and foreign companies. According to activists, many of these...

Mapping Vietnam's Socio-Economic Indicators

  28 March 2015

The World Bank has launched mapVIETNAM, an interactive map that shows various socio-economic indicators in Vietnam such as poverty rates, employment, and electricity connectivity. The photo above shows the number of households living on $2 dollars a day. Using the map, we can see that poverty rates are high in...

In China, Online Game Has To Comply With Laws in Real Life

  22 March 2015

An online game designer, Xu Youzhen revealed in his Weibo that the Chinese authorities require that childbearing in his company's video games comply with family planning. The guideline was issued by Internet Culture Office, Bureau of Culture Markets in their powerpoint explanation of “Ministry of Culture's Online Game Content Censorship...

Open Letter Asks UN Human Rights Council to Probe Abuses in Vietnam

  16 March 2015

An open letter signed by 27 groups and 163 individuals is asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to probe the human rights abuses committed by the Vietnamese government. The signatories are also demanding the removal of Vietnam's membership in the UN human rights body. We urge member states to...

Cleaning Up the Coastal Areas of Singapore

  13 March 2015

Since 1992, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore has been organizing activities to remove garbage from the beaches and mangroves of Singapore. Every year, about 1,500 volunteers are joining the cleanup events that are able to collect 60,000 pieces of litter.

Worst Drought In A Decade Hits Taiwan

  10 March 2015

As a subtropical/tropical island, Taiwan usually covers with wetness and green. However, last year, there were only two typhoons, the island is now facing the worst drought in a decade. Independent reporter Chu Shu Chuan reported that the storage of 12 major reservoirs is reduced to less than 50%, according...