The unveiling of ChatGPT, a chatbot launched by American start-up company OpenAI, has fueled huge interest in artificial intelligence and language processing technology. The app can answer questions, translate text and engage in a wide range of other t…
Category: Key Issues
COMMENTARY: What’s next as the dust settles after Vietnam’s leadership turmoil?
The dust seems to have settled on the unprecedented tumult in Vietnam’s leadership with the election of Vo Van Thuong as President. In late December 2022, two deputy prime ministers, Vu Duc Dam and Pham Binh Minh, were forced to resign, the latter also…
China, Myanmar, North Korea listed as ‘worst of worst’ in freedom report
The Chinese Communist Party plays “a leading role in promoting authoritarian norms” around the world as some leaders show a willingness to collaborate in spreading new forms of repression, according to a report from Washington-based think tank Freedom …
Townships in Myanmar’s Chin state hit by one airstrike per day over last two months
Myanmar’s military averaged nearly one airstrike per day on townships under martial law in Chin state, in the western part of the country, in the first two months of 2023 alone, an ethnic Chin minority rights group said Thursday, as NGOs urged governme…
Troops beat and arrest 7 people in a Kachin state tea shop
Army troops have arrested seven people who were using the internet in a tea shop in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state as the military tightens its curfew on a township with a strong ethnic militia presence.Around 20 soldiers entered the shop on Tuesd…
Myanmar’s junta killed nearly 500 women in just over 2 years
Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government marked International Women’s Day Wednesday with a bleak statistic.It said 483 women across the country have been killed by the junta in the 25 months since the military seized power from the democratically ele…
Women’s equality and empowerment in Myanmar: A bird’s flight with a broken wing
International Women’s Day on 8 March celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call for action for accelerating women’s empowerment and gender equality. Why does commemorating the International…
Cambodia, Laos declare Women’s Day a holiday, but host of inequalities remain
Cambodia and Laos declared Wednesday’s International Women’s Day a holiday as leaders sought to highlight improvements in the status of women, but activists across Southeast Asia said much progress was still needed in protecting women, who regularly fa…
EU Hits Taliban, Russian Officers, Iran Over Women’s Rights Abuses
The European Union on Tuesday imposed sanctions on nine people, including two senior Taliban government members, Russian military officers and police, as well as an Iranian prison facility, accusing them all of links to rights violations and the sexual…
Head of US Army Pacific Names Challenges Posed by Beijing
The top U.S. Army commander in the Indo-Pacific recently gave a ground-up view of the challenges posed by China’s military buildup in the region, citing munitions shortage as among the areas the United States should strengthen to effectively deter pote…