U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze is reportedly wreaking havoc along the Thai-Myanmar border, where medical clinics serving around 100,000 refugees, most of them from Myanmar, could soon be forced to close their doors – if they haven’t already. Among the flurry of executive orders that he issued afterContinue Reading
Lunar new year is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people, symbolizing unity, prosperity and hope for the future. It is, however, celebrated all over Asia and in the diaspora. Unlike the new year that is celebrated only on December 31 and January 1, lunar new year celebrationsContinue Reading
Last week, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. made an impassioned critique of Senate Bill No. 1979, blasting some of its content as “woke” and “abhorrent.” The bill, otherwise known as the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act, is intended to usher in comprehensive sex education across Philippine schools. For its supporters,Continue Reading
François Ponchaud, the French missionary who revealed the reality of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge to the outside world, has died aged 85. Ponchaud spent 56 years of his life as a missionary in Cambodia, and was the first to provide an authoritative account of the horrors committed by Pol Pot’s genocidalContinue Reading
Hundreds of same-sex couples yesterday became legally married amid scenes of celebration across Thailand, as the country’s landmark Marriage Equality Bill came into effect. The rainbow pride flag flew from the Thai Parliament and special pop-up wedding events were held in malls and district offices across the country in orderContinue Reading
On January 13, 2025, the festival of Maha Kumbh Mela (Great Pitcher Festival) commenced at the holy city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, India. It’s the world’s largest gathering of people — an estimated 400 million people are expected to congregate in Prayagraj between January 13 and February 26 whenContinue Reading
In 2014 I and roughly 150 others arrived to work for The Center for Teaching and Learning in China (CTLC), a company that since 1996 had brought a new cohort of teachers each year, mostly from the United States, and deployed them across Shenzhen to teach English in public schools.Continue Reading
