Friday, 01 July 2011 16:53

Written by Niamh Griffin

0 Comments

Elections are a dry business in Thailand. Sales of alcohol are forbidden from the evening before voting until polls close.

This weekend, Thais vote in a general election shadowed by rumours of a military coup or the return of an exiled politician. The alcohol ban is enforced to lessen road deaths as millions travel home to vote.

“There may even be a coup. It has happened many times in Thailand. We say we are a democracy but in fact we are not at all,” says monk Phra Sang Pen, visiting Dublin to discuss Ireland’s first Thai-Buddhist temple.

About three thousand Thai people live in Ireland. Head of the Thai-Ireland Association, Wichit Isarotaikul has lived in Dublin for 30 years. But he keeps a close eye on the country where many of his family live.

Thursday, 30 December 2010 15:27

Written by Irish Govt Press release

0 Comments

Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin T.D., spoke today by telephone with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the prominent Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner.

According to a Department of Foreign Affairs press release today:

The Minister took the opportunity to welcome Daw Suu Kyi’s release after her many years of arbitrary detention by the Burmese regime and assured her of the importance both Ireland and the European Union attach to her continued freedom and personal safety. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi expressed her gratitude for the continued support of the Irish people.

Minister Martin and Daw Suu Kyi had a full discussion of recent events including the extremely flawed Parliamentary elections which took place in November this year, the challenges facing the Burmese people in their struggle for democracy and human rights, and the humanitarian relief efforts following the damage caused by Cyclone Giri in October.

Monday, 18 October 2010 00:00

Written by IRIN hc/pt/cb

0 Comments

[HANOI] As central Vietnam continued to be battered by flooding that has killed at least 66 and affected half a million people since 2 October, IRIN asked three experts to assess the country’s level of preparedness for flooding that typically occurs from August to November.

The storms quickly inundated five out of 58 provinces nationally – Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Nghe An, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue – causing widespread damage to crops, housing and livestock. Record rains on 14-16 October flooded an additional 50,000 homes. The country is in the path of a super typhoon due to hit the Philippines shortly before continuing on through Vietnam.

Saturday, 14 August 2010 00:41

Written by Crisis Group

0 Comments

[JAKARTA/BRUSSELS] The Indonesian government needs urgently to address discontent in Papua, its easternmost region, and recognise that the root of the problem is political, not economic.  

Indonesia: The Deepening Impasse in Papua, the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the political fallout from Jakarta’s rejection of a local initiative to require all candidates in district-level elections to be indigenous Papuans. The debate that followed brought to the fore Papuan concerns about being increasingly marginalised by steady in-migration from other parts of Indonesia and unhappiness with implementation of a 2001 autonomy package.