World

By Kiana Duncan, Pimuk Rakkanam for RFA and RFA Burmese2024.11.15Thailand will grant citizenship to nearly 500,000 long-term residents, most of them members of ethnic minorities, with the aim of improving national security and the economy, officials said.While immigration is a hot-button political issue in many countries, in Thailand, where its remote border lands have for centuries been populated by a patchwork of “hill tribe” communities, the plan has stirred little, if any, serious opposition.Under a streamlined process agreed by the cabinet in late October, provincial authorities will be able to grant citizenship, cutting down on red tape and saving time, said government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub.“It will bolster national security, enable those Thai citizens to access medical plans and...

By Allegra Mendelson for RFA Investigative 2024.10.22Nghe An, Vietnam and LondonCuong first left his home in Vietnam’s central northern Nghe An province five years ago with a single goal in mind – to earn more money to support his wife and three kids.He set off first for Romania, where he was told it was easier for Vietnamese nationals to get visas and find good-paying work. But once he arrived, he was shuffled through a series of manual labor jobs that paid just $500 — less than a third of what he had been promised.With living expenses and the bribes he had to pay each time he wanted to move jobs, after four years, he had barely even managed to earn back the nearly $7,000 he had borrowed from the bank to pay an agent to get to Romania in the first place.“Around that time I got a call from...

By RFA Burmese2024.11.15Residents in northern Myanmar are facing shortages of food and other supplies as China imposes restrictions on small-scale, informal trade, Radio Free Asia has learned.The restrictions are centered on three border crossings, two of which have been recently shut down, in the northeastern town of Muse, which lies across the border from China’s Ruili, Video posted on social media showed fresh fruit sellers in China giving their product away because they could not get it across the border before it spoils.More than 2 million residents in northern Shan state rely on Chinese foodstuffs and goods. The closures have resulted in price hikes.At the Muse border, the price of one liter (.26 gallons) of gasoline has risen to more than 10 thousand kyats ($4.76), while a bag of lo...