Salem-News.com Asia articles Page 3

Hmong People Mourn Death of Royal Lao General Vang Pao

Vang Pao, former general, Hmong leader, and enemy of the Communist Pathet Lao, passed away at the age of 81.

(FRESNO, Calif.) - Vang Pao, former Royal Laos general; noted Hmong leader and military leader, passed away in Fresno, California late Thursday. He had been hospitalized for the ten days before his death in Clovis, California.

Vang Pao was born in the Xiangkhouang Province of Laos, which was French Indochina when Gen. Pao was born in 1929.

May Aung San Suu Kyi`s Light Shine on Tel Aviv and onto Berlin

(CLERMONT, Fla.) - Hours before her anticipated release scores of supporters gathered near the home of Nobel Peace Prize laureate pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hoping to see her in her first few minutes of freedom after seven years of house detention under Myanmar's ruling generals.

Aung San Suu Kyi swept to victory in the 1990 election by a landslide on top of the National League for Democracy party, but the military refused to hand over power and clamped down on opponents.

Meeting on Cluster Munitions Opens in Laos, the World`s Most Affected Country

Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions over Laos. An estimated 80 million cluster munitions that did not explode on impact are scattered in rice fields, waterways and on roads...

(VIENTIANE, Laos) - Laos is more contaminated by cluster munitions than any other country in the world.

Udon the Red Heartland

The Reds back Thaksin, a former prime minister overthrown by a 2006 military coup while visiting to the UN in New York.

(UDON, Thailand) - Udon, the largest northeastern City, is considered the heart of the Red Shirt movement in Thailand’s color-coded politics. Only last month was the State of Emergency lifted from Udon, which is 700 kilometers from Bangkok, and it’s business as usual reports I.T.B.

Only a week ago I chanced upon a motor show in a large concrete area in the heart of the old part of the city.

The Swashbuckling `Bone Hunters` of Cambodia

Forty years on since Sean Flynn's abduction -- the son of the swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn -- Ivan T. Brecelic reports the 'bone hunters' of Cambodia who are intent on finding the remains of the famous war photographer.

(BANGKOK) - In March, 2010, sensational headlines broke around the world: "Son of Swashbuckling Errol Flynn's remains found."

An Australian and New Zealander, MacMillan and Rotheram had dug up the remains thought to be two photographers who had disappeared in Cambodia in 1970.

Vietnam Report

Summary of most recent publication of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society: Issue 62 Fourth Quarter 2010.

(LONDON) - I am sure the General, his friends and his many supporters will not object to the use of the cricketing term on reaching his centenary, an achievement that all who know of his outstanding military feats will applaud.

Described as one of the worlds top ten military commanders General Giap certainly qualified for that title in his use of military strategy that helped defeat two of the worlds major military countries France and the USA.

North Korea Bangs War Drum, Prepares for Attack on South Korea

Just when you thought U.S. military action overseas was winding down...

(CHICAGO) - A possible showdown is coming between the million man army of North Korea and the joint US-South Korean forces. Like a pressure cooker simmering for many months, all the ingredients for war that have been simmering may be about ready to boil over.

The official news agency of the government in Pyongyang is reacting to the joint naval exercises conducted by US, Japanese and South Korean forces.

Hunger costs Poor Countries $450 Billion a Year

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - ActionAid has released their report revealing the cost developing nations face in the fight against hunger, an estimated $450 billion a year - more than ten times the amount needed to halve hunger by 2015.

“Fighting hunger now will be ten times cheaper than ignoring it. Every year reduced worker productivity, poor health and lost education costs poor countries billions. And the cost is not just financial..."

A Plea For My Sister`s Freedom

An open letter from the sister of a Cambodian refugee on the verge of deportation, and a very uncertain future.

(ELOY, Az.) - The U.S. fought a war in Vietnam that bled into Cambodia in 1970 and then was followed by a wind down period and eventual withdrawal of the last American combat troops from SE Asia in 1975.

The U.S. created a huge refugee problem in Cambodia, and today it should not forcefully deport a productive young woman adopted to American ways, back to Thailand, where her single past California drug conviction means an instant death sentence when she is returned.

Police Fire on Mine Protesters

At least four Tibetans may have been killed in a standoff with police over a planned mine expansion.

(HONG KONG RFA) - Police in China’s southwestern Sichuan province have responded with lethal force to a group of Tibetans protesting the expansion of a gold mining operation they say is harming the environment, according to Tibetan sources.

At least four people were killed when police officers opened fire on a crowd outside the Palyul (in Chinese, Baiyu) county government offices in Sichuan’s Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous prefecture, sources said.