News stories by Marwaan Macan-Markar, page 14

Nearly 50 years after a Burmese military regime crushed what was once a vibrant trade union movement in the South-east Asian country, hints of a revival are beginning to emerge.

The torturer-in-chief of a notorious prison during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in Cambodia will finally learn what price he has to pay for the almost mathematical precision with which he carried out his duty to torment and kill nearly 14,000 people, including babies.

She is better known for her cooking, her hospitality and her soft-spoken demeanour in this southern region torn apart by an insurgency. But now, 52- year-old Nima Kaseng is heading for a bigger, more public role — as a crusader for justice.

Burma’s military regime is giving its critics more ammunition, tightening its grip ahead of a general election this year by seeing to it that independent political parties are barred from chanting slogans, marching in rallies and displaying their party flags when they campaign.

With the force of an emergency law behind it, the Thai government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is tightening the screws on an opposition protest movement that, if mishandled, could extract a heavy political price.

The Culion island, in the western Philippines, is increasingly becoming a magnet for tourists drawn to its corals in the shallow waters close to its shore, its deep green hills and its ancient Spanish fort.

Once again, parents in military-ruled Burma are counting the cost of a primary education for their children in public schools. It is an annual ritual that comes with the beginning of a new school year, which coincides with the onset of the monsoon rains in June.

In the wake of a new U.S. government report on human trafficking, human rights and migrant rights activists are calling on a South-east Asian regional bloc to review its polices toward this scourge to protect the group’s most vulnerable citizens — its women and children.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is savouring another victory. His latest triumph: a string of verdicts against an opposition lawmaker that has guaranteed him the liberty to insult women and get away with it.

As it took root in the rice fields across Asia, it was hailed as the solution to the hunger afflicting millions of people in the region. But four decades on, the much vaunted Green Revolution appears to have reached its limits, unable to meet new demands, to feed new mouths.