Podcasts about Myanmar

Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific. The hottest name in China's domestic AI industry is Moonshot. The company's AI model -- known as Kimi K3 -- was released last Friday. It shows China is closing the gap on OpenAI and Anthropic more rapidly than anticipated -- even with limited access to the most advanced processors from Nvidia. We speak about the market reaction with David Savage, Bloomberg's MLIV Strategist. And -- Top diplomats from across South East Asia are gathering at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meetings. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend along with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. There is a lot of topics in focus, including Myanmar's future, the situation in the Middle East, China and Philippines bilateral relations. Bloomberg TV Host Avril Hong spoke to Bec Strating, Director of La Trobe Centre for Global Security. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

VOV1 - Hội nghị Ngoại trưởng ASEAN lần thứ 59 và các hội nghị liên quan chuẩn bị khai mạc trong tuần này. Đây là sự kiện quan trọng chuẩn bị cho Thượng đỉnh ASEAN vào cuối năm 2026 với việc tìm kiếm những giải pháp giải quyết các thách thức đối với khu vực.Sự kiện quốc tế thu hút sự chú ý của dư luận tuần này chính là Hội nghị Ngoại trưởng ASEAN lần thứ 59 và các hội nghị liên quan. Dù chưa khai mạc, nhưng sức nóng của hội nghị đã tăng nhiệt khi Ngoại trưởng Mỹ, Nga, Trung Quốc đang trên đường tới hội nghị. Một loạt các nội dung quan trọng, trong đó có vấn đề Myanmar, Biển Đông, thúc đẩy đối thoại, xây dựng lòng tin, các biện pháp ngoại giao phòng ngừa trên khắp khu vực Ấn Độ Dương - Thái Bình Dương được cho là sẽ làm nóng các diễn đàn với các quan điểm khác nhau. Hội nghị Ngoại trưởng ASEAN lần thứ 59 với nhiều hồ sơ “làm nóng” khu vực.

Subscribe now for an ad-free experience. Canada's wildfires rage on, so Danny and Derek are here to be your breath of fresh air. This week's news: In Iran, the U.S. reimposes its blockade and intensifies strikes (2:04), Trump announces and then backs off a Hormuz toll (5:44), and the White House issues threats of further escalation (9:17); in Yemen, the Houthis/Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia trade strikes (13:37) as the former might become involved in the Iran war (16:28); Lebanese-Israeli talks talks wrap up, but progress is uncertain (17:45); in Israel, a date is set for an election (19:18), plus the ethnic cleansing in Gaza is given a new euphemism (21:15); Southeast Asian countries appear to normalize relations with Myanmar (22:23); the U.S. touts a “new” peace plan for Sudan (24:13); the Ebola outbreak in the DRC continues and may be much larger than official figures suggest (26:35); Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine's prime minister and defense minister (29:43); Andy Burnham is to become the UK's PM (33:32), plus a UK-EU deal on Gibraltar is reached (35:22); Marco Rubio is reportedly running Venezuela as a U.S. viceroy (36:34); the U.S. is attempting to destroy the ICC (38:35) as it also takes aim at “left-wing terrorism” (41:23); and a Pew poll finds China more popular than the U.S. for the first time (43:01). ⁠Watch last night's weekly livestream⁠ if you missed it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada's wildfires rage on, so Danny and Derek are here to be your breath of fresh air. This week's news: In Iran, the US reimposes its blockade and intensifies strikes (2:04), Trump announces and then backs off a Hormuz toll (5:44), and the White House issues threats of further escalation (9:17); in Yemen, the Houthis/Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia trade strikes (13:37) as the former might become involved in the Iran war (16:28); Lebanese-Israeli talks talks wrap up, but progress is uncertain (17:45); in Israel, a date is set for an election (19:18), plus the ethnic cleansing in Gaza is given a new euphemism (21:15); Southeast Asian countries appear to normalize relations with Myanmar (22:23); the US touts a “new” peace plan for Sudan (24:13); the Ebola outbreak in the DRC continues and may be much larger than official figures suggest (26:35); Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine's prime minister and defense minister (29:43); Andy Burnham is to become the UK's PM (33:32), plus a UK-EU deal on Gibraltar is reached (35:22); Marco Rubio is reportedly running Venezuela as a US viceroy (36:34); the US is attempting to destroy the ICC (38:35) as it also takes aim at “left-wing terrorism” (41:23); and a Pew poll finds China more popular than the US for the first time (43:01).⁠Watch last night's weekly livestream⁠ if you missed it.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What does it really mean to build bridges that last for decades? I want you to meet Bircan Unver, whose lifelong commitment to responsibility, creativity, and global citizenship has shaped more than 25 years of meaningful work through Light Millennium. From growing up as the eldest of seven children in Turkey to creating an internationally recognized nonprofit connected with the United Nations, Bircan shares how art, public media, and open dialogue can bring people together across cultures. We explore why responsibility begins with each of us, how local communities can help solve global challenges, and why issues like water security, environmental stewardship, and human connection matter more than ever. I believe you'll enjoy hearing how one person's unstoppable mindset continues to inspire collaboration, education, and hope for a better future. Highlights: 06:55 - How growing up with responsibility shaped Bircan's lifelong commitment to serving others. 18:30 - Why public access television became the foundation for sharing voices and building community. 26:15 - The story behind founding Light Millennium and creating a nonprofit built on dialogue and education. 36:55 - How local communities can play a meaningful role in advancing United Nations goals. 49:45 - Why water security, cybersecurity, and gender equality are becoming deeply connected. 55:40 - Bircan reflects on preserving ideas through books, creativity, and lifelong learning. About the Guest: Bircan Ünver is the Founder-President of The Light Millennium, a Charitable Global Human Advancement Organization (LMGlobal.Org, 2001, New York); Executive Producer of the LMTV Programs; Multi-Media and Event Producer; Host, Author, Publisher, Public Speaker; [Head] NGO Representative of The Light Millennium to the United Nations Department of Global Communications since 2005 (formerly, UN.DPI); and Chair, Outreach and Partnerships Subcommittee at Global NGO Executive Committee and director for the 2021-2023 term. She has been also a Content Provider at QPTV since 1992, and she is the editor and co-founder of the U.S. Turkish Library & Museum Project. She has undertaken the Organization's e-publications, public programs since its inception in August 1999, and #LightMillenniumTV Series and Specials in all aspects of it since January 2000; along with, the LMGlobal.Org's all UN-related activity and programs since 2005. Bircan is the author and director of the Compulsory Peace & ICTs Education from Kindergarten to K-12, and Beyond Campaign, which she launched it through the Light Millennium Global in support of the Summit of the Future in 2024. The Campaign has delivered its 8th session along with the Coalition for the Campaign, which contains 22 organizations and educational institutions including The Light Millennium Global as the leading organization. Further,  she is also author of the bi-annual international high school project, “J.U.C. Media, Research, Writing & Innovation Awards”. The third of its kind was dedicated to the “Water Action Decade” and was delivered  (virtually) on the World Water Day, March 22, 2025. Bircan served as a mentor to the GPODS for three consecutive terms in Winter'22, Summer'22, and Fall'22 Fellowship Programs; and delivered lectures on “How to associate with the UN-NGO”, Public Access TVs in the U.S., and the latest one was on the #WaterActionDecade and the #2023UNWater Conference. To attach that, on behalf of LMGlobal.Org, she organized and hosted an Outside-UN Side Event ID #W175, titled, “What Is Your Commitment To The #WaterActionDecade? ~ Seven Core Ideas Toward #WaterAwareness, #WaterConscience and #GameChangers” in NYC on March 21, 2023, and was the head delegate of the LMGlobal.Org at the #UN2023WaterConference. Based on LMGlobal.Org's Commitments to the #WaterActionDecade, she launched #OneMinuteWaterActionCommitment during the #W175 Side Event, along with continues to work toward #WaterAwareness toward building up #WaterConscience.  She served as the chair of the ATAA Committee on UN Relations, guided its association to the UNDGC in 2020, and also served as the New York Regional Vice-President of ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) from October 2019 to January 2022. Furthermore, she served on several Planning Committees of the UN-Civil Society Conferences, and the Planning Committee of the High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace (HLF-CoP). She has been a strong advocate of the UN Vision, Programs & Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) along with the relevant UN Days, which are in line with the LMGlobal.Org's Mission/Purposes since its association with the UNDGC (formerly, UN.DPI/NGO) in December 2005. Currently, Bircan is on the Advisory Board of the Turkish Forum (based in Germany). She encourages and guides interested civil society organizations and members of academia toward their educational institutions' associations with the UN, along with engaging them with the UN Programs that are within her networks and beyond. Further, she is an Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill for Anuvrat (Anuvibha) Global Organization (Jaipur, India, since 2014); and a Member of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace (GMCoP, since 2012). Bircan is also the founder and president of the IsikBinyili.Org Association based in Istanbul (2010), which is a sister organization and counterpart of the LMGlobal.Org. Author of the following four book titles in print (Turkish): “En Kutsalı Yaratmak” (The Most Sacred is to Create) (1995, 2022), “Sanatın Labirentlerinde” (The Labyrinths of Arts) (2016), and “Işık Yollarında (“The Ways of the Light”) (poetry, 2017), and “Bin Yıl Daha…” (2020, A Thousand Years More…). Also, she is the author of the concept and compilation of the “Hope Never Fades” (English) book (Istanbul, 2023). Bircan initially received her local and studio television production certificates at QPTV.Org in 1992. Based on this capacity, she produced and broadcasted near to 260 television programs through local channels in New York City, which are also available online through www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV including 36 #OneMinute #WaterAction PSAs. Bircan celebrated her 30th Anniversary at QPTV.Org through a video profile, titled, “A Turkish Experience in America” (Duration: ~9 min. Production Year: 2022). Her works through The Light Millennium Global is a recipient of various national (U.S.) and international awards and recognitions including two awards from the Foundation of Alliance Community 2023 Hometown Media Awards (F-ACM-HMA for her “GroundWater” Light Millennium TV program in Web-based Programming and Online Events / Independent Producer categories (received at Brick TV, New York), the Anuvrat Ahimsa Award For International Peace-2023 (received in Mumbai, India), and the 2023 International Volunteer President Award by Institution of Green Engineers (received in Chennai, India), and ashe is also the recipient of the 2024 Best Web-Based Program – Independent Producer for the #HopeNeverFades program by F-ACM-HMA, which was produced based on the 2023 J.U.C. Media, Research & Writing Awards (ACM HomeTown Media Awards, San Jose, CA). Bircan holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Istanbul, 1988) and a Master's Degree (M.A.) from Media Studies of the New School University (New York City 1999). Ways to connect with Bircan**:** Websites: www.lmglobal.org  (active web site) | www.lightmillennium.org (serves as the organization's web archive)#LightMillenniumTV | www.vimeo.com/LMTV | www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV Social Media: Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bircan-ünver-7353207 X@lightmillennium Instagram@lightmillennium About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hello everyone, and I want to welcome you to another edition of Unstoppable Mindset, and today we get to talk to a very interesting person with a with a lot of roots in Turkey, but she is also doing a lot of work with the United Nations here in the U.S. and other places. Her name is Birchan Umfer, and I hope I got that right. And Bircan Unver  01:23 thank you. Michael Hingson  01:24 Oh, good. And Berjan is is with us, and is going to talk about a number of things that she is working on. She's working on, and for years has been involved with a program called Light Millennium, and we'll we'll talk about all that, but let's just start and and as usual we'll have a great conversation. So, Bir John, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're here. Bircan Unver  01:50 Thank you so much, Michael Hingston. It's great honor and privilege to have your guests. Especially, I love the title Unstoppable Minds. It's really inspiring and triggering the mind. Thank you. Michael Hingson  02:08 Well, my pleasure. We're glad that you have the time to to spend with us, and we will we will we will do it and make it work. Well, let's start. I love to start this way because I really want people to learn about you. Tell us kind of about the early Birchan growing up, and then we'll go from there. So tell us about Birchan and growing up, and and and all of that. Bircan Unver  02:32 Thank you. This will be a little bit different than most people know about me, my work. Well, we'll get to Michael Hingson  02:38 your work. Bircan Unver  02:40 Yeah, I know. I mean, the people who already know my work. What I'm gonna say now is completely too different from Berja. So I am a elder of seven siblings, and I was born in an ancient village in Mid Anatolia, actually nearby the Black Sea region, and I'm proud with my age, 1959, and my family moved to town first from the village, and then Istanbul for our educations for their kids, and but I don't know really as a girl child growing up with seven kids, as especially with a traditional family, being older girl is not a good idea. But but maybe it was a kind of tough childhood as a girl child. I I don't feel that I never been a child. That's really what I feel. But on the other hand, and that was you know when you are growing up, living through like I was a kind of second mom, and also our home was kind of everyone our guest from the village town and stay over not only one night, like or a week, like sometimes months, even years. You won't believe that, and it was not because either. So, but those kind of build up maybe my feeling to be responsible, so I consider myself a responsible person because I was responsible for my sisters, brothers, and also washing dishes, making helping my mom to prepare the meal, lunch, breakfast, and clean up. Like you know, I was kind of second person, second mom at home. So those early things, all those stolen my childhood, but at the same time, provide me being able to do everything from very early age. Even though I remember several times at the time. The bread wasn't, you know, you you weren't buying the bread from the market, but from the bakery, real where they were baking the bread. So she was, and time to time also she was making the the bread at home, and then she she wasn't sending me to school because then I had to stay with my brothers and kids so she can make the you know breads a big amount for a couple days. So that said, also gave my idea. I want to suddenly want to work as soon as you know I'm 17, 1617, So and then I started early working at a bank, and it was my first eight years. I worked at a bank in Istanbul. It is called Istanbul Bank, and then my graphic is like life graphic is a little bit different, like curvy, not like straight line. Then after eight years working at a bank, I started to university and fine arts, and then I had kind of interest art history, especially TV production, art history, arts in in the concept is producing art documentaries. That was kind of my vision. Also, it was also my reason initially coming to the U.S. learning TV production. Of course, English as first. So that was very much my childhood until you know 18 until starting at the bank, and then the rest is another story. I have, I must say, I would have three different life. Michael Hingson  06:48 Well, you had certainly an interesting childhood, needless to say, and I, I can understand what you're saying about being the oldest and all the challenges. I was not. I was the youngest, but we only had two siblings, and neither of us we were we were both males, and so we we did not do a lot in terms of preparing meals and all that sort of stuff. Except my brother and I were both in the Boy Scouts, and so when we went camping and other things like that, we learned how to cook on an open or an open fire and and things like that. But still, I understand that you you had a a lot that you had to do. What lessons did you learn by being the oldest child? What kinds of things do you think that you you carry over to what to your life today, because you were the oldest. Bircan Unver  07:44 I think two different components of that. One is also because it wasn't only I was the as a kid at the home and as a girl, girl, but also at the time there wasn't that kind of awareness which we have today. Which I mean, my mom got married with my dad at the age of 15, and she had birth. She had given me birth at the age of 16, the reason I'm bringing up this, when we were going to shopping Kapolechar, Grand Market of Istanbul, when I was 1516, and literally we were halfway age difference between my mom and myself. And when I was saying mom, and the people were surprised, and she and isn't your sister, other sister? They were asking me, and she was my mom. So, but this is in the long later years. I always become the best friend with my mom, and even my brother was saying, "Oh, now I understood that she, you are the joy of my mom because she can kind of a joke, and the others, my kids, like they are kids, but I'm her friend because they kind of feel similar. That is one, you know, lifetime developed feeling and strong connection, different connection with my mom, and the other also, as I mentioned at the beginning, it really this whole, you know, not selected, but where you, which house you born, which condition you grow up, that build up for me early high level responsibility. I feel responsible to do everything, and I, you know, that's a little bit tiring because that's what I want to say here. You say something in our after our initial Zoom meeting. It's really very inspiring. You say something. I just took note. We can solve all the worst problem. We can. You say you don't say we cannot. You say we can. Solve all the world's problems. So, like, it wasn't possible. It's not possible, but you know, as if I could solve the problems or I could carry everything. So it's kind of you know build up my bricks in my life. Michael Hingson  10:18 One of the things that you certainly, it sounds like you learned as you were growing up, though, was was all about responsibility and and and learning to take charge, but learning about responsibility and and feeling that it was okay to be responsible for others in your family and so on. And I think a lot of people don't necessarily learn a lot of lessons about responsibility, like they should. But you were put in a position where you had to do that, which is is certainly a good thing because you clearly have have done that in your life. Bircan Unver  10:54 That's very true, and also it goes with everything. Let's say sometimes some people think maybe unnecessary action when people cut trees, even in their you know backyard or front yard, whatever trees or any type of trees or fruit trees. I really get mad and upset because it is irresponsible to nature, to their own environment, just feeling they're responsible to trees, loving the trees, loving the you know, for instance, if when I was it was two weeks ago, I was working on at my desk, a bees was you know flying around me, and I don't like you know trying to hit and chase the bees, and I just left the window open, moved the room two hours, and it's gone. So I don't want to hurt things, even though if it bites, it would hurt me, right? So to kind of find a way, being responsible, because also I have a subconscious thinking that if I try to chase a herd, if an insect, any of them, they you know they react sharp. So I'm not a threat to them. So they are not threat to me. So I kind of make a subconscious connection, communication. Michael Hingson  12:22 Well, and it's it's better to to learn to love than than not. So I I hear what you're saying. Now you didn't go to college or university, right? Or you did? Bircan Unver  12:35 Of course, I did. That's what I was just briefly brought this stair at that level. That after eight years working at at Istanbul Bank, from literally actually 17 to 24 or 23 late 23 early 24 then I started at the Fine Arts University in Istanbul, and I mainly study both as major Turkish tradition arts and also along with as a minor. We didn't have a minor, but we had we didn't have the minor degree, but we had a selected course. So I was following up several like four years in a row and also whole year around, not a quarter semester base artist troy and contemporary art. So I started writing on art and exhibit and interviewing artists while I started study at the Fine Arts University, which is top university in Fine Arts in Istanbul, Myanmar, Sinan Fine Arts University. Michael Hingson  13:44 So you learned a lot about fine arts, and Bircan Unver  13:47 yeah, Michael Hingson  13:47 and you had obviously learned about finance from the bank, which Bircan Unver  13:51 is didn't learn that Michael Hingson  13:53 much, huh? Bircan Unver  13:53 Not at all, and I didn't like it. That's why I, you know, I changed all my life line. Michael Hingson  14:00 Right, but but you enjoyed art. Bircan Unver  14:03 Yes, and because also art always for me, and it as it is today. Whatever the life problems we cannot be resolved, art is always for me a branch to hold on and to kind of feel strength, connect with the nature, with the art culture, whom I never might met, or maybe you know through art, through music, through books. So it's kind of really, I think the the best human conscious and what we leave behind is what we produce. Creative might be a little bit another discussion. What is the term defined? And now everyone using like creative for everything, but creativity is like really what stays, you know, central. And something as what is already before, and what you brought it something new, that new perspective, like cubism and faism and expressionism and all that different genres or pop arts and another one Dali's movement. So all the Dadaism, so each of them brought something what is already existed, and then you know moved to different level, and also technology and communication brought where we are today. So and music, I'm not any degree. Degree train or understand, but I love music as most people about music and arts and literature and writing is always for me. Also taking pictures. I don't trust my memory much, but this is not new, not because of my age now. But I somewhat I always like take the pictures, whether I have cell phone, the oldest, you know, digital or the manual photo photographs. So even though when I run into where where was it, where I was, who was with, who next to me? I can't remember. But why I love that? Because really, it brings, it captures your life, even you don't remember, and then reconnect. Also, I I come up with a new concept. I haven't done anything yet, but it's kind of developing in my mind, that we can, we are able to capture the past, but we cannot capture the future, because you know whether you know unexpected the one photo comes up, or an audio recording, or all those movies, musics, and documentaries and paintings throughout artistry, you can really capture the past depending on what you know your background or interest and education, but you cannot capture the future. But you can imagine, we can imagine the future. We can invest into the future. Michael Hingson  17:16 Well, and and the the reality is that that the future is based on so many things that happen in the past, and so you can learn to to use some of that information and and have a better idea of what the future might be like, and that's that's pretty fascinating too. So so, how long did you go to college Bircan Unver  17:42 in in Turkey the basic four university education is annual base, not semester base. It's a four years, and actually when I started it was five years. Then later on they the system education board changed it to like four years plus two years. So I graduated from a four years fine arts, and then I have a master's degree based in New York News School University. Michael Hingson  18:20 Ah, in New York. Bircan Unver  18:21 Yeah. Michael Hingson  18:22 Okay. So that was was that two years. Bircan Unver  18:27 Yes, but it was a little bit different again. Yeah. See, because first when I was here for the first time, 18 919, 89 to 1994, I started and I took to six credits and I love it. But I had to go back to Istanbul, so then I got the you know absence live of absence, and then but coming back three years later, I readmitted, and then I finish it. I got my graduate diploma in 1999 May 1999 Michael Hingson  19:12 Okay, so Bircan Unver  19:14 you've been dealing late. You've been Michael Hingson  19:17 dealing with school for a while, but but while all that was going on, you got interested in, and you started to to do things regarding public access television. And you started that, if I read your biography correctly, in in 1991, you started doing things with public public access TV. Tell us a little bit about that, and why did you do that? Bircan Unver  19:41 That's really the kind of key point in my life. In as for the initial one of the two reasons that I came to the U.S. as the first time, I was you know the first aim to learn English. The second also. To learn the TV production, and then my first year was in the U.S. was in L.A. and then I was looking for the schools and just I'm I I'd like to get the formal education, formal training, and then one of my friends there, whom I met there, she said my aunt is TV producer at Queens Public TV in New York, and she is looking for someone like you who really wants to get in and all that. And then I think a couple months later, I had a very brief trip to New York, and I met with her, and then I met with her at QPTV. Now she is unfortunately not with us, but she was also she was the first Turkish producer at QPTV, and I'm forever grateful in memory of her. She was the one who introduced me QPTV, so I met Victor at QPTV in 1990, and then when I went back to LA, I decided to move to New York. So as soon as I moved to New York and I registered to QPTV's both field production and studio, and at the time, there were seven, eight months waiting list. Eventually, I got it on the list, 1991, and first I got the field production certificate, and it was I think six months something, and we had a group project and solo project, and then studio and studio production. It's when the same group project after you are learning all the equipment and then shooting and everyone is crewing everyone is helping each other within the same group of the class and then also producing group project and then the individual project that it is the similar step for the field production and the studio, that also provides a certificate to enabling us to use QPTV equipment, studios taking out the equipment, inviting studios, studios. Unfortunately, after COVID 19, there has been a long dragging issue. They haven't opened the studios. This is I don't want to get in because it is beyond our concept, but because that was my initial reason also moving to New York. And then once I started producing program and airing, I really loved idea from one idea, just idea, and then put paper and develop it. Bring yes, bring the crew, especially with the manual three-inch tapes, and to present, put everything in a tape, and then submit it an ARC schedule. I really love that. So then, while I was there, and then I said, "Okay, I want to really have a master's degree on TV production. So my master's degree from New Zealand University is in media studies. So and I got my diploma May 1999 So, but New Zealand was amazing. I learned all the first my you know my life although it was 39 maybe 3839 years old when I was Photoshop and Premiere or Evid and all the first offline digital all the software program I learned at the new school and I edited my first program offline at the new circle as well, but when I got diploma, and then I had nowhere no access to continue. Also, you know, it's just I, I never been about the person. My mind and my heart wealthy, but not financial terms. And then, so QPT was always my second home because it provides me continuing the producing and provides me access, provides me equipment. It's like provides the community. That's what it is exists for, especially in support of the Article First Amendment and freedom of expression, and also QPTV format is really, really not well known, or not QPTV loaned. It is public access, pack programming, public education and government programming, non-commercial. So it's it is not much known widely, but it is really one of the best symbol of democracy. And now it's kind of a little bit diminishing because also widespreading out other web streaming platforms like this or other, so that there are so many. Discussion and issues, and also there is one petition to the New York Senate that is called Team New York that could also bring in all the web streaming to this community media access public access media. So then, Michael Hingson  25:19 oh, go ahead. Bircan Unver  25:20 No, I mean the question is so QPTV had has been the longest since 1991. I've been providing content, and as long as I am in the US, if I'm out of the country, even if I am out of the country, my previously submitted programs are rerunning in different, you know, whenever they schedule for my new programs, I determine which time slot because I have a time slot to be scheduled, and whether 28 minutes or one hour. But especially again after COVID 19, I couldn't produce anything at the studio at QPTV, but like this Zoom-based programs, and then for the late million organization, the programs I produce and then edit them, reformat them to schedule for QPTV. But it wasn't as it used to be produced at QPTV, at the studio with the crew, that's the excitement teaming up. It's really, I love it. But Zoom, this type also make more maybe manageable, but also bring more intonation speakers. You know, through online connection. If Speaker 1  26:54 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  27:28 So you you started in public access television and and and are still doing that essentially. But in 2000 you started Light Millennium TV. Tell us about Light Millennium Television. Bircan Unver  27:42 Thank you so much. Because Late Millennium, I still consider it's my third child because already 25th anniversary. The flyer on my back says 25th That also refers the 25th anniversary of the Light Millennium. I think a the experience and production, and also providing three platform QPTV, Queens Public TV, but actually the 1992 Communication Act and PAC programming, public government public education and government programming; those emerge with my new school education, like Fatrus, Plato, the concept of the two ways of messaging, and for the first time in my life, at the age of I think it was I was 39 I was able 3039, I was able to use. It was very new, also for the war. Internet. We had the internet at the new school as our media class, the open forum. One week media theory class. We have open discussion forum about Greek philosophy, further is communication, media theory. The other class we had the classic format. So all these together merged in my mind, and I really felt I found my medium. That medium is the internet, which me, especially someone is living in New York, who has you know 30 years first life in Turkey, Istanbul, that culture, and then I I didn't want to kind of disconnect from my root cultures, and internet provided me that connections, and also I always like to write and communicate, so so it becomes like natural medium. And then when I just graduated in May 1999 I send out by then like 40 people with my friends. Colleagues, and then I said, "Oh, I want to start a platform. This platform is going to be ours. And everyone wants to say, kind of to expand the QPTV's concept, because when I say QPTV's concept, this is the again First Amendment, and they don't control the content. They don't say anything you can do, you cannot unless it is a threat to someone's life. So it's all the content, or you are responsible as the producer. So I really love that freedom and responsibility again. And then then I was mentoring at the New York Food Moon Finance and Television, and I was kind of trying to find what I want to do, and I was already producing programs at QPTV. I never give up as as long as I could afford to produce the time and edit. Edit is always more time consuming, and then the executive director of the at the time 1999 Woman Film Man Television, she said you can form a nonprofit. I never taught it before, and I'm forever thankful to her. And then I said I don't know what to do where to start because she perhaps she saw the potential because I was producing non-commercial and publishing, trying to promote, you know, through group emails, and whatever the you know social media available at the time. Well, mostly email and group emails, and then she suggested me a volunteer lawyers of arts that she said they can help you, and I never knew and I never thought I if I never came to U.S. maybe I will never had a concept of forming a nonprofit or light minimum. So that U.S. and all combination brought me and news called Queens Public TV, First Amendment, United Nations Article of 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everything together kind of merged in my mind. Also, the projects I produce, I communicate, is contact with people, I learn from them. So then, when I contacted with them, they ask me, you know, what is my statement this type? And then I drafted all of them, and they put in medical, you know, terms and terminology, and I was lucky that we got a pro bono at the time one of the you know major U.S. law firms. I I think I can say now because they even though I think merged K Shuler, but they took our case and they formed my organization on on a pro bono basis and officially the first as a non profit organization done with the 500 1c T V together. So we officially formed 2001 July 17, and we and then right after that they filed 501c3 for us, and then we granted that in September 18, 2002. Bircan Unver  33:14 My memory is not good, but I I remember that date as of today because it was kind of imprinted in my mind, but also the beauty was that the granted granting 501 c3 was effective of the formation date, which is July 17 2001 So then, since I developed started the light minimum concept, introducing speaking people trying creating an open platform that everyone can you know contribute be part of it, so then I started in January 2000 on January 13 2000 started first monthly the like TV series at like at QP TV. That's how it came about. Michael Hingson  34:02 Yeah, you have certainly created quite a niche in in the whole light millennium and all the other things that you've done, which is pretty fascinating. How did you get connected with the United Nations? Because I know you're doing work with them. Bircan Unver  34:18 Thank you. Actually, the concept with the UN use, I don't do work for them. Michael Hingson  34:29 Right. Bircan Unver  34:29 We do work with them. Right. You're connected Michael Hingson  34:34 with them. You're not working for them. I understand that. Bircan Unver  34:36 Yeah, I just you know one word, but it's key key differences. But as as I mentioned, how the light millennium concept emerged, and also my master's degree program, media studies at the New School, and also there is another person I have to mention here, also in. Separate for her respectful and loving memory, Danielle Camille. She was my advisor for my thesis project advisor at the new school, and all that TV ideas and my thesis project. And she loved, and I got all A. And my first TV ideas project was peace, reality, or utopian dream, and it was 11 minutes or so. It was just before the first Clinton administration election, just October, I think 2002 and then I interviewed many academicians, civil society, non-profits who whose focus area on peace and war and you know against nuclear or all that and and then that actually the concept peace reality or utopian dream that took me to the United Nations I don't know now as a as an outsider, at the time it was so welcoming, and I went to photo department. They share me with photos, and I got all the books I was looking for. Of course, public library. I got all the books about the peace and peace organization. So that 12 minutes program, peace rate or utopian dream, and physically led me to step in the UN for the first time, and then producing this project, searching kind of open to me new horizon, and also my advisor was persistent. Birjan, we know you are great. You produce fundamental programs on arts, but I want you to do something else. So that actually also forced me to move beyond producing something beyond arts. And so then then peace, reality, or utopian dream concept came in, but also it wasn't far topic in my life because my son was born 20 when I was 2022 Now he is 45 His name is Borush, and mean is in Turkish peace. Peace also at the time, you know, Africa hunger, and I was hoping when I get 4050, this will be over. It's not the case, but as a vision, I always look for humanistic positive for the humanity, not you know for myself well-being. Michael Hingson  37:38 Well, you you kind of act as a bridge between UN programs and local communities. Tell me more about that because you view that you view yourself as being a bridge between UN programs and the local community. Why do you why do you view yourself as more of a bridge? Bircan Unver  38:00 That's very nice metaphor, and I think it's very true for me too. Maybe I could take it two three step backs. One is the village I was born. There is a river, and and then there was a bridge, and that bridge was kind of fundamental. Really, going to where you know people are established, living in all the agriculture and large fields, and it was kind of nostalgic to me. It's a bridge, but it's a stone, short bridge. That's the the first part. The second Istanbul. You know, my life main path when I was in Istanbul, Turkey in Istanbul, and Istanbul the Bosphor and then the Istanbul Bridge. Now the name changed, and now three bridges, and not just the bridge itself, but also Turkish geographic Turkey's geographical space place on Earth and especially on in between Europe and Asia and Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea and then when you go down North Africa, and then you go up like Russia and North Europe. So you see that that connection physically, geographically, and troy physical bridges. We live, we grow up with this kind of as part of our DNA and vision. When I was working on this, the first the initial need you know in the non-profit world to describe the need need was to connect with my culture, people, friends, family, the internet medium, and then village is also metaphor, and when we associated with the. I let I'm proud to say it. Let the association process. That was also my vision from that small video for the class project. And then, then I realize this is also. I think today is real fact that local communities, even Queens here, people are paying 1000s of dollars to come to New York to get visas. All that trying to get the sponsor, you know, to attend a conference, and I I didn't see much interest within the local nonprofits there, and that little bit was shocking realization for me. So I brought to my programs UN visions programs, MDGs, UN days, sustainable development goals. For instance, when it was announced at the UN for the 2023 agenda, we created dreams for humanity. So we brought people from lots of life, poets, authors, and youths to really share their ideas for humanity, for peace. Michael Hingson  41:12 Well, you-it sounds like, from all that I've read and and studied, you're you're, or at some point, you kind of have moved more into dealing with a lot of things with the environment. So I know that your program has been able to get a credit accredited as an observer observer status with the UN Environment Program. How is how has that affected what you do and all of your work going forward. Bircan Unver  41:43 Thank you. This is also another important, I think, milestone for us. The first in connection with the UN, associated with the in the formerly United Nations Department of Public Information, and then it has changed to Department of Global Communications. Officially, we've been associated since 2005, active and good standing, and we are able to be presented at the UN with six representatives, and therefore we are able also to reflect back to our committee's networks from the UN and it's two ways. I really like the concept two ways messaging, and then always environment in somewhat it involves in our programs. But let's say through water, through energy, through, for instance, when the forest fires really burns my heart. So being sensible and trying to, as much as I could, to attend the meetings, especially MDGs for the first phase of the Millennium Declaration, really, it's. I consider UN is the best school I ever had, and it's for me lifetimes to call, and I learn about so many countries I will never otherwise know them much. Some of the names you hardly hear in media and anywhere else, so it's kind of opens and to see the global spectrum. Also, one of the things I really love at the UN, whether you you are a ambassador or president or prime minister of a country that has maybe a population 1 million or 2 million or 1 billion or two 1.6 billion, the largest one, so you have the same minutes of speaking time, same voting, especially of course, I'm talking about the general assembly. So those things I follow up, and we try to incorporate time to time. And water issue always, I wanted to involve. I want to do something about, but it's just not like because I love the tourists, and I'm not, you know, scientist, so I'm not officially trained. So also, I'm not able to protect the, you know, fires in the forest. And every year it's getting worse and worse. And then I'm sensible, but you know, you can't do much about it. And eventually, although our last name is same, but we are not blood connected. Professor Oljoymer, at the time he was vice president for the UN Water at the UN, and we connected. And I was following up, and I was aware his work before we met. We connected through the UN. So then, especially during the COVID era, then when I've seen his speeches, natural-based solutions, and then his piece on smart water, so I propose him if we can do something. About water, and then he was very supportive, very kind, very modest. We had our first water program on the World Water Day in March 2001 and then it has turned out an annual program, and we kind of made the global connections and collaborations, and especially first three, four of them, Professor Olja led and guide, and also we worked together in a sense that I brought one part of the speakers and he brought other parts. So it was also great, diverse speakers and also the level of the speakers from whether civil society, academia, UN, and youth, all that. So we already presented six of them, and 2023 we were part of the UN Water Conference. We presented a program, and then last year we participated and presented a program site event in Nice on the Ocean Conference, and we kind of we also had previously on the ocean again. So plastic also become whether ocean, whether water, whether land life, like plastic, is becoming a huge in every level. Not plastic, but also chemical, all all sorts of polluters on in environment. So then we become promoting, producing, and there are really great level of academicians and experts, and they also like to share and connect their research and their findings. So it's a platform to break down together, and then when it is a video, when it is posted as both a summary along with the full presentation or speech, so it becomes a really source where you know you can find diverse voices, diverse solutions, diverse ideas, and also we align them in support of the UN days, UN conferences, SDGs, sustainable development goals like Water Days. Also, we collaborate with an organization in India, IGEN Green Institution, Green Engineers Institute of Green Engineers. So they are focusing on energy SDG seven. So we contribute them, bringing speakers. Bircan Unver  47:40 So then they join us to our program. So really, it's an organic volunteer base. So that that actually, I was so proud that we got a call, invitation to submit the application for this accredited status, and it was June 2025 after the ocean conference. I think ocean conference kind of brought them cumulatively and maybe brought their attention. And then October they asked our official documents, the bylaws and and certificate of organization, which is the regular require any formal application at the UN, and then I I submitted them in I think it was October 1525 but I haven't heard anything, and then I thought maybe you know they didn't consider, and then literally a year later, in June, last June, we got approval, and with a, it's not just accredited for a special one particular conference. It is an observer status assembly to contribute draft ideas. I mean, to contribute drafts, draft resolution to observe, to participate, and then also to be responsible to provide every four-year quadrennial report. Let's say if we fail to produce contribution at any level to this cause, then you know we may lose that observed status, but of course we'll do our best to contribute and to continue. Michael Hingson  49:27 With all of the work that you've done in all of this, I want to come back to World Water Day in a moment. But with all the work that you've done and all the the the things that you've done in public television and so on, when you host these meetings or you participate in these meetings, do they get televised? Also, are you able to bring those to to the public through public television? Bircan Unver  49:53 When it is Zoom, then I edit within my time slot within the limits of. Time slots and QPTV provides two different time slots. One is 20-eight minutes, the other one is 50-eight minutes. So then, let's say if it's two-hour session, I you know a little bit edit and then title, etc. and part one, part two, and also depending on the length of the session or 20-eight minutes. So then I schedule them through the local channels, as we spoke at QPTV. Also, I make them available through our vmail.com/lmtv channel on web on the web. Also, when we have a summary or outcomes, so we also provide those links and share through social media. Try our best to make those information available, visible, and reachable. Michael Hingson  50:51 Well, that I'm glad you do that. I'm glad that it gets to be something that is a lot more publicized than you just attending a meeting-that's important, I would think, to do when when you talk about World Water Day and so on. One of the things that that I I understand you do is you compare water security directly with cybersecurity and gender equality. Those are three different sorts of things when you include water security. Tell us more about that. Bircan Unver  51:24 This was our latest program in last March, and we had in our prior program on AI a discussion on AI a public discussion on AI policy or AI arc. So he's a professor and at the SUNY, and he's a mathematician, and he's also teaching cybersecurity. And when I was talking about when we met about the water conference upcoming, actually in this December, in the United Emirates on I think December six to eight. Even I was thinking to attend, but I wanted part a bit this time virtually instead of going there. So when we were talking about and and I really like this idea and I say as I asked exactly what you asked for, and then his really statement explanation made great sense because everything is nowadays control troy some form of electronic or AI or a combination of those systems, right? Competing systems. So if or if there is a technical issues, that's one case. But if there is a hack, especially water is the life source for everyone, whether you are billion or trillion, or you are you know ordinary people on the you know everyday life. So water is the source for everything, including producing the energy. AI. So water is the life itself. So then, when he said, if any hacking, whether you know small you know some you know people with a bad intention or some maybe big corporation because some profit purpose they want to sell more you know bottled water whatever or some international security issues you you may name this many other things. So if a computer system, if the control mechanism, if the AI system, whatever that combination in that system, is hack, then everything is a huge risk, and that's number one. How it connects with the water. Also now you know we smart how everything is electronic. Everything and then when that somewhat the life collapses there. So including water, including energy. So everything is so much you know interconnected. And then how that the gender equality came. Also, we follow Michael the UN annual-based dedication team for each UN Day or conferences. For instance, last year, water and gender equality, because water and gender required is also so inseparable concept and conditions in many parts of the world, and then also our professor Emre Tokus, he also. Make beautiful connection that if woman or when woman, if and when women are more in the security, cyber security, IT technology sectors, they are more sensitive. They are more like maybe natural in their dealings, like mother protection. So more protective, so there is less risk than where it is now. So to increase the gender equality, both not burden on the woman, you know, where it's the water scarcity that woman has to carry the burden. Girls, even five, seven years old, when developing countries, when it comes to developing countries, and then if the girls are, and also that was staggering. Stats he gave sort of shocked me today because he is a professor at SUNY. So what I mean by that, he said one of his class has only four girls out of 31. of his class has only one girl. One of his class doesn't have no girl. So even though if if girls are girls are not getting in this field, how we gonna bring the gender balance in all cross-cutting sectors of society. So that's how both from the UN perspective, the dedication team, also cybersecurity, the profile from a university that girls are not showing attention, interest studying cybersecurity. That was the fact based on his class last semester. One Michael Hingson  56:46 of the things that you have done, as I understand, is you've written several books. Bircan Unver  56:53 Yes, there are more, but hopefully I could get work on them, publish them as well. The my first book was Michael, based on my interviews with artists and my reviews on art exhibits, and also when I had questionnaire surveys like with artists, galleries, academicians, professors, students. When I before my first life prior prior the U.S. So when I went back after four years and I was really eager to get in a job for as a TV producer and somewhat that didn't work despite all my efforts even I my project load and everyone was after me, but they want to take the project, but not give me the role what I deserve for. So then I kind of close myself, and then I said I want to compile my books, my articles, my interviews. So that was how my first book came about in Turkish. To create is the most sacred. So, like the value to give the highest value for the creativity, intellectual production. That is through all those interviews, reviews, and questions. So that's that was the first book. The second book is in a way a bridge again between U.S. and Istanbul, New York and Istanbul, or maybe L.A. New York and Istanbul. Because when I came in, also I've done freelance journalism, so I wrote some you know reviews and the magazine. I used to, you know, send and appear my interviews and reviews. So and it was include not too frequent, but it was include some of major exhibits, both from LA and also from the Metropolitan Museum in MoMA in New York. Also Turkish artists here. So I met them, you know, when I was living. I started living in here. So then I a combination of those, and also that was another metaphor developed in my mind when I was Istanbul. I was feeling like the labyrinths of arts. So that's my second book title in Turkish labyrinths in arts. So like you are like this kind of narrow and small world in Istanbul art worlds and very high competition, and then nobody expanding to New York and LA expansion means bringing some, for instance, Franz Bacon, Thomas Hart Benton, and Max Ernst and Marina Magritte. Those also the last part connecting with the New York Istanbul from my art based on my art background. Michael Hingson  59:51 So, were any of the books published in English? The Bircan Unver  59:54 last 120, 23 is English, but. It is a compilation concept is written me. I directed the project, and of course I have some pieces also beside the concept. But it is a compilation by 24 contributors. It is based on the JUC Media Research Writing Awards 2021 and 2023 High School Awards Project, and also it is also engaging the youth to involve the UN programs at an early age and encourage them award them. So that also the next one is going to be on the Water Action Decatur in the same line, same concept, and also I have a book project since 2022 I couldn't still 2022 2020 actually. I dream, therefore I am. I have 80% of the book manuscript is ready, but I couldn't finalize it, and so the other one also I was hoping but couldn't to have a book for the 25th anniversary of the latentium. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. It's a little bit seemingly not going to happen this year to come up 25th anniversary of late millennium, but I had 20 anniversary of the late millennium in Turkish, and so this is completely different issue because I introduced like Millennium both in Turkish and in English, so it's like Tiffany Sister is the Turkish one, and then I formed Turkish sister in 2010, and then so on the 20th anniversary of the Turkish organization, as it is association, official association. So I compile the first part, the concept vision, very much like Millennium, because it's the system. But the second part based on the programs, activities, and challenges in Istanbul. So this book also in English will be first the the manifesto and the first all the history will be very much in English, the original one. But the second part is going to be completely, you know, selected ideas and projects and programs from the website and public programs from the last 20-five years, and it's hard hard things to do. It it's very challenging. I couldn't do it. Michael Hingson  1:02:47 It's it's a lot of work. Well, Berjan, I I want to tell you that we have now been talking for more than an hour. Time flies when you're having fun. Man, I'm going to go. I'm going to have to go ahead and and end our time, but we'll have to do this again and and continue the discussion. But I really appreciate you taking the time to be here, and I hope that people will monitor your programs and and and read your books if they can read Turkish or English, whichever works. Troy Bircan Unver  1:03:18 has so many English pieces, and now everyone welcome to look out our website. And what's the Michael Hingson  1:03:26 website again? Bircan Unver  1:03:28 lmglobal.org. Michael Hingson  1:03:32 lmglobal.org. Okay. Bircan Unver  1:03:34 Yes, but the whole archive from 2019 to 2000 no, 2019 no. of course not 2019 1999 to 2018 The archive. Our initial website is light millennium.org Millennium is with double N double N. So the everything we are talking about, all the process, our UN programs, and the reports from the UN NGO briefings, some conferences we participated. If anyone has any question, I'll be happy to provide the link and you know to contact them. Michael Hingson  1:04:17 And we will put that information in the show notes, the notes for the podcast. So I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely informative. I really appreciate your time, and I hope the programs continue to go well. So I want to thank you again for being here, and this has just been a lot of fun. Bircan Unver  1:04:39 Thank you so much, Michael Kingston, it is great honor and privilege. Especially, you are a hero, and your your story is amazing, and you are also taking really one of the challenges works like producing these programs, and we never met in real life. And then this is also like Millennium and your work. How we connected through? Otherwise, there was no like regular environment or database environment that we could meet. Your work and your dedication and your inspiring contribution really connected us and bring us together in this session. Thank you, and I'm really grateful for that. Michael Hingson  1:05:29 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset

Episode #573: “I brought you here to the United States not so you could forget our homeland,” Salih Hudayar remembers his father telling him, “but so you could become educated and one day return to liberate our people and our country from the Chinese occupation.” Hudayar, now Foreign Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, traces his political life to that instruction. Born in 1993 near Kashgar, he grew up amid tightening state control and left for the United States as a child after his father fled repression. He situates the current crisis within a longer history that includes two short-lived East Turkistan republics before Communist consolidation in 1949. He describes a post-2009 escalation of surveillance, detention, and forced labor under the banner of counterterrorism. Citing Chinese government documents and satellite imagery, he argues that mass internment, religious repression, family separation, and demographic engineering amount to genocide. Now based in Washington DC, Hudayar presses U.S. lawmakers to move beyond condemnation. Recognition of genocide, he says, is not enough without confronting what he calls the root problem of colonial rule. Running a government in exile, dispersed across continents and sustained by diaspora donations, requires coordination, discipline, and constant vigilance against external pressure. Myanmar surfaces repeatedly in the interview as both comparison and caution. Hudayar draws parallels between the Rohingya genocide case and his own effort to bring a complaint before the International Criminal Court, noting that the Rohingya precedent shaped the jurisdictional argument he pursued. He also references Myanmar's strategic importance to China's Belt and Road Initiative, particularly access to the western coast and energy corridors that could reduce Beijing's vulnerability in the Strait of Malacca. At a broader level, he frames the Uyghur and Myanmar struggles as linked by geography and power politics—both situated along China's periphery, both affected by Beijing's economic leverage and security influence, and both navigating how global powers respond when human rights concerns collide with strategic interests.

VOV1 - Bộ Ngoại giao Philippines thông báo, các Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Mỹ, Trung Quốc và Nga sẽ tham dự Hội nghị Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao ASEAN lần thứ 59 và các hội nghị liên quan tại Manila vào tuần tới.Đây là một trong những sự kiện quan trọng nhất trong năm Chủ tịch ASEAN để thảo luận về các vấn đề chính trị, an ninh và chiến lược định hình khu vực.Người phát ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Philippines phụ trách vấn đề ASEAN Dominic Xavier Imperial xác nhận trong cuộc họp báo rằng Ngoại trưởng Hoa Kỳ Marco Rubio, người đồng cấp Trung Quốc Vương Nghị và Ngoại trưởng Nga Sergei Lavrov sẽ tham dự các cuộc họp của ASEAN. Các Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nhật Bản, Ấn Độ, Vương quốc Anh và Hàn Quốc cũng sẽ tham gia các cuộc họp.Philippines, nước Chủ tịch ASEAN năm nay, sẽ triệu tập Hội nghị Bộ trưởng ASEAN (AMM), Hội nghị Bộ trưởng với các đối tác đối thoại ASEAN+3 (Trung Quốc, Nhật Bản và Hàn Quốc), Diễn đàn Khu vực ASEAN (ARF) và các hoạt động kỷ niệm 50 năm Hiệp ước Hữu nghị và Hợp tác (TAC).  Đánh giá về các cuộc họp năm nay, ông Dominic Xavier nhấn mạnh, Hội nghị phản ánh cam kết bền vững của ASEAN đối với đối thoại, hợp tác và hòa bình khu vực trong bối cảnh bất ổn toàn cầu: "Hội nghị Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao ASEAN lần thứ 59 sẽ xem xét tiến độ các nỗ lực xây dựng Cộng đồng ASEAN, trao đổi quan điểm về các diễn biến khu vực và quốc tế, thảo luận về các cách thức để tăng cường sự thống nhất, vai trò trung tâm và khả năng phục hồi của ASEAN trong môi trường địa chính trị ngày càng phức tạp. Các Bộ trưởng sẽ tổ chức một cuộc tham vấn không chính thức mở rộng về việc thực hiện thỏa thuận năm điểm về Myanmar."Trong khi đó, cuộc gặp gỡ với các đối tác mang đến cơ hội quan trọng để xem xét sự hợp tác của ASEAN với các đối tác, trao đổi quan điểm về những diễn biến cấp bách trong khu vực và toàn cầu. Hội nghị ASEAN+3, Diễn đàn khu vực (ARF) cũng nhấn mạnh vai trò trung tâm của ASEAN trong việc thúc đẩy đối thoại, xây dựng lòng tin, các biện pháp ngoại giao phòng ngừa trên khắp khu vực Ấn Độ Dương - Thái Bình Dương, cũng như tăng cường hợp tác trong an ninh lương thực và năng lượng, chuỗi cung ứng.Ngoài vấn đề khu vực, ông Imperial cho biết, các Bộ trưởng cũng sẽ thảo luận về an ninh năng lượng, bao gồm tiến trình phê chuẩn Hiệp định An ninh Dầu mỏ ASEAN (APSA). APSA là một khuôn khổ được thiết kế để đảm bảo khả năng phục hồi năng lượng khu vực thông qua việc chia sẻ nhiên liệu khẩn cấp. Bộ quy tắc ứng xử trên Biển Đông ( COC) và vấn đề Myanmar cũng là một trong những vấn đề được thảo luận. Ông Imperial cho biết, ASEAN và Trung Quốc cam kết đàm phán một Bộ quy tắc ứng xử “thực chất và hiệu quả”, đồng thời bày tỏ tin tưởng rằng tiến trình đàm phán sẽ hoàn tất trong năm nay./. Phạm Hà/VOV JakartaHội nghị hẹp Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao ASEAN diễn ra tại Cebu, Philippines tháng 02/2026 - VOV Jakarta

isten to current week's news from and about the Church in Asia in a capsule of around 10 to 15 minutes. This week, China accelerates its severe crackdown on unregistered churches, while a deadly prison riot in Sri Lanka claims multiple lives. Plus, Pakistan delivers a rare mob conviction, and devastating monsoon floods ravage southeastern Bangladesh. All these stories and more. Tune in for the latest developments from Asia. Filed by UCA News reporters, compiled by Fabian Antony, presented by Joe Mathews, Cover photo by AFP, background score by Andre Louis, edited and produced by Binu Alex for Union of Catholic Asian News. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.comTo contribute please visit www.ucanews.com/donateOn Twitter Follow Or Connect through DM at : twitter.com/ucanewsTo view Video features please visit https://www.youtube.com/@ucanews

The former head of Italy's motorway operator has been given a 12-year prison sentence over the collapse of Genoa's Morandi bridge in August 2018. 43 people died when the bridge running through the city came down in a rain storm during the summer season, sending cars and lorries plummeting to the ground. The ex-chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia Giovanni Castellucci was accused of delaying planned maintenance of the structure. More than 30 others were found guilty in connection with the disaster. Also, as Washington continues to strike sites across Iran; we hear from voices inside Iran. Reports emerge of two boats carrying more than 500 Rohingya migrants have capsized off the coast of Myanmar. How 'Bluey', the beloved children's cartoon series featuring a Blue Heeler puppy will now be available in an Australian Indigenous language. And how singing and learning to play instruments is helping to give orphans and young people displaced by war in Gaza hope. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk

The civil war in Myanmar recently passed a grim milestone. According to the conflict-monitoring NGO ACLED, an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since the war broke out in 2021. Seventy percent of them were civilians. This civil war rarely makes headlines in the West. It erupted after Myanmar's democratic transition collapsed and the military seized power in February 2021. The junta then violently suppressed peaceful protests, prompting many demonstrators to take up arms. The front lines have shifted in recent months as neighboring China has intervened more decisively on behalf of the junta. I'm joined today by Kelley Currie, the new UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. We begin with a brief history of Myanmar's long-running conflicts before turning to an in-depth conversation about the current dynamics of the civil war, the geopolitical implications of China's intervention, and the particularly brutal military strategy that has resulted in so many civilian deaths.

500 feared dead in shipwreck off Myanmar coast: IOM, UNHCRHelping South Sudan's child soldiers rebuild their lives -UNICEF UNDP supports Gaza farmers struggle to rebuild livelihoods

Cinco Continentes se detiene hoy a analizar el informe de Médicos sin Fronteras sobre la situación sanitaria en Ucrania en una crónica de Aurora Moreno. Sara Alonso nos trae la última hora de la pugna por el control del estrecho de Ormuz. Mientras que Jordi Barcia nos resume la sentencia contra los responsables del hundimiento del puente Morandi. María Eulate recoge las novedades sobre los incendios forestales en Canadá y Antonio Delgado hace lo propio con el fuego en Fontainebleau, cerca de París. Desde Berlín, Beatriz Domínguez ha estado atenta a la visita del presidente francés, Emmanuel Macron a Alemania para reunirse con el canciller Merz. De la mano de Fran Sevilla viajaremos a Malaui para conocer el estado de sus cárceles. Además, entrevistamos a Miguel Mateos, director de comunicación de Unicef en Bangladesh sobre el brote del sarampión en el país. Guillaume Bontoux resume la polémica sobre la pancarta de las Malvinas en el partido Inglaterra-Argentina y Teresa Montoro nos habla de las fotografías de Anne Leibovitz del Mundial México 86 y del actual. Para acabar, Beatriz Viaño nos cuenta la última hora en directo del naufragio en Myanmar de miembros de la minoría rohinyá. Escuchar audio

Episode #572: “The government will survive for as long as it can feed the people,” says Christopher Lamb, former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar, distilling what he believes defines the country's political fate more than any ideology. He reflects on a relationship with Burma that began in the early 1970s, when the generals were drafting a Socialist Constitution and creating a surveillance state, and evolved through the 1988 uprising, which began not as an idealistic revolt but as a desperate reaction to hunger and daily indignities. Years later, he reconnected with Myanmar around humanitarian work in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and then academic engagement in 2013, when he co-founded the Australia–Myanmar Institute as a platform for academic and civil-society exchange Lamb situates Myanmar's politics within a wider regional frame, drawing on Shan history, federalism debates, geography, and Chinese influence to show why the struggle against the junta cannot be reduced to a simple clash between dictatorship and democracy. He also contrasts the current military leadership with earlier eras, noting that Min Aung Hlaing lacks the ideological projects—whether national unity or the “Burmese Way to Socialism”—that once guided previous generals. Instead, Lamb sees today's junta as driven largely by personal ambition, with Min Aung Hlaing positioning himself to transition into a civilian presidency through a tightly controlled electoral process. Without this sort of guiding ideology, Lamb believes the regime's future becomes harder to predict and possibly more brittle. Myanmar remains close to Lamb's heart. It shaped him as a diplomat, it shaped his curiosity and it shaped his friendships. When asked whether any memory stays with him above all others about the country, he references a remark offered by the senior Burmese official decades earlier over tea: “The government will survive for as long as we can feed the people.”

Hii leo jaridani tunakuletea mada kwa kina inayotupeleka Ukanda wa Gaza ambako sitisho la mapigano kati ya Israeli na Palestina lililotiwa Saini tarehe 10 mwezi Oktoba mwaka jana wa 2025 limewezesha wakulima wa eneo hilo kurejea mashambani. Pia tunakuletea Muhtasariw a habari.Mashirika mawili ya Umoja Umoja wa Mataifa lile la Uhamiaji, IOM na la Kuhudumia Wakimbizi, UNHCR kupitia taarifa waliyoitoa kwa pamoja jijini Gneva Uswusi na BangKok Thailand, wameeleza wasiwasi mkubwa kufuatia taarifa kwamba boti mbili zilizokuwa zimebeba zaidi ya watu 500 huenda zimezama katika pwani ya Myanmar katika siku za hivi karibuni. Kwa mujibu wa taarifa za awali, boti hizo mbili ziliondoka mwishoni mwa mwezi Juni kutoka Jimbo la Rakhine nchini Myanmar zikiwa zimewabeba zaidi ya abiria wa jamii ya Rohingya, wakiwemo baadhi waliokuwa wametoka katika kambi za wakimbizi za Cox's Bazar nchini Bangladesh.Zaidi ya watoto milioni 23 wengine zaidi ya wale ambao wako tayari kwenye umaskini duniani wanaweza kutumbukia katika umaskini wa kipato ifikapo mwisho wa mwaka huu wa 2025 kutokana na kuendelea kwa mzozo wa Mashariki ya Kati na athari zake kwa biashara ya kimataifa, kwa mujibu wa ripoti mpya iliyotolewa leo na Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Kuhudumia Watoto (UNICEF) jijini New York, Marekani.Na Uganda leo imeanza rasmi kuhesabu siku 42 kuelekea kutangazwa kumalizika kwa mlipuko wa ugonjwa wa Ebola baada ya mgonjwa wa mwisho aliyethibitishwa kuwa na maambukizi kupimwa mara ya pili na kubainika hana virusi hivyo, kisha kuruhusiwa kutoka hospitalini. Hatua hiyo ni mafanikio muhimu katika juhudi za nchi hiyo kudhibiti mlipuko, imesema taarifa iliyotolewa leo na Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Afya Ulimwenguni, WHO ofisi ya Uganda.Mwenyeji wako ni Feissal, karibu!

World news in 7 minutes. Friday 17th July 2026.Today : Ukraine politics. EU drone deal. Germany Uber takeover. Turkiye anniversary. Italy bridge sentence. Kenya Del Monte deaths. Algeria wildfires. Myanmar shipwrecks. New Zealand bird flu. Venezuela talks. US-Brazil tariffs. Expensive T-Rex.SEND7 is supported by our amazing listeners like you.Our supporters get access to the transcripts and vocabulary list written by us every day.Our supporters get access to an English worksheet made by us once per week.Our supporters get access to our weekly news quiz made by us once per week.We give 10% of our profit to Effective Altruism charities. You can become a supporter at send7.org/supportWith Stephen DevincenziContact us at podcast@send7.org or send an audio message at speakpipe.com/send7Please leave a rating on Apple podcasts or Spotify.We don't use AI! Every word is written and recorded by us! We do not consent to the podcast being used to train AI.Since 2020, SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) has been telling the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi, Juliet Martin and Ben Mallett every morning. Transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and our weekly world news quiz are available for our amazing supporters at send7.org. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated daily news in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, TEFL teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they use SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.Get your daily news and improve your English listening in the time it takes to make a coffee.For more information visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org

In this bulletin, The UN fears more than 500 dead as boats carrying Rohingya refugees go missing; a report lays bare the rising use of drugs at work; and in sport Argentina facing possible FIFA sanctions over its semi-final Falklands banner.

Myanmar's jailed leader has not been seen since 2022. We ask if she is in fact alive, and what might happen if the military junta acceded to demands for her release. We examine Turkey's plan to turn the war in Iran to its advantage. And delving into the research on just how much sleep is enough—and too much.Guests and host:Aaron Connelly, Asia diplomatic editorCerian Richmond-Jones, international economics correspondentSam Wikeley, science correspondentJason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Aung San Suu Kyi, MyanmarTurkey, economics, Iran warsleep, scienceListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Myanmar's jailed leader has not been seen since 2022. We ask if she is in fact alive, and what might happen if the military junta acceded to demands for her release. We examine Turkey's plan to turn the war in Iran to its advantage. And delving into the research on just how much sleep is enough—and too much.Guests and host:Aaron Connelly, Asia diplomatic editorCerian Richmond-Jones, international economics correspondentSam Wikeley, science correspondentJason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Aung San Suu Kyi, MyanmarTurkey, economics, Iran warsleep, scienceListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Assistant Coach Marc Grenier returns to the Bench to team with Scott and compete against Bohmbach & Tako. In the first quarter, the teams managed to have an obvious answer with a "3-2-1 Response", and then soon after, a difficult question brings them to a "1-2-3 Silence." David is criticized for his questions (blasphemous!) as Tako implies David doesn't know what difficult is, and then later Scott jumps the gun on an answer that David may not have thought through (again, blasphemous!). At one stage, Tako suggests we talk about Lynn Swann with the sole purpose of pissing off Markkus, and David accuses one team of just having the Wrong Long. Watch out for the return of Wemby Jones, and oh yes, if anyone is curious, mugs should still be available. #myanmar #321 #123 #blasphemous #lynnswann #wronglong #wembyjones #mugs https://dobosdelights.com/ Promo Code: CheckYourTaint https://www.patreon.com/benchwarmerstp https://www.facebook.com/benchwarmerstp https://www.twitter.com/benchwarmerstp https://www.instagram.com/benchwarmerstp/ https://www.teepublic.com/stores/benchwarmers-trivia-podcast

Episode #571: “For students living through uncertainty, I think online learning and online education becomes a lifeline rather than simply an alternative.” Eaint Thet Hmu, a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) student at Parami University, came to education through disruption rather than continuity. COVID-19 interrupted the expected path after matriculation; the 2021 coup closed off the university future she had imagined in Yangon. Online learning became the route through which she found Parami, community work, and a new way of reading Myanmar. At Parami, Eaint's Bamar-majority background was unsettled by studying with classmates from ethnic nationalities she had rarely encountered before. She began to understand what it meant to move “from being the ethnic majority and becoming a minority in the classroom.” That shift shaped her interest in civic education, gender equality, and the kind of learning that does not stop at theory. For one thing, she came to understand that “the role of the student isn't to save the community but is to learn with them.” Her youth-led Project PyitTineHtaung brings sexuality and gender education to underserved secondary students, including monastic education students in Magway and Mandalay. Eaint sees this work as part of survival in a country where misinformation spreads more easily than accurate guidance about their bodies, gender, and safety. “Restrictions are not always the solution,” she says. Her research on the Civil Disobedience Movement extends the same question into the political sphere. After the coup, students who refused military-controlled universities were refusing more than classes; they were refusing legitimacy. Among twelve higher education students she interviewed, all said the decision came at once: “they decided immediately, they didn't hesitate for a moment.” Eaint's account keeps returning to education as a contested space. A degree is not the whole of learning. In Myanmar now, learning means recognizing power, resisting false legitimacy, and continuing to think when the official institutions meant to teach have become part of the pressure.

Will producing Patriot missiles be the turning point that Ukraine’s defense needed? Asean members discuss how to engage with Myanmar amid its civil war. Then: the Orient Express returns to connect Trieste, Italy, and Belgrade, Serbia. Plus: we head to Broadway to see the season’s shining stars.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Day in Legal History: The Northwest OrdinanceOn July 13, 1787, the Confederation Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance, one of the most important laws in American history—and one passed under the Articles of Confederation, before the Constitution even existed. Its formal subject was dry: how to govern the vast territory north and west of the Ohio River. But in answering that question, it set precedents that shaped the entire future of the nation.The Ordinance did several remarkable things at once. It created an orderly process by which frontier territories would move through stages of self-government and eventually be admitted to the Union as new states—fully equal to the original thirteen, not as colonies or dependencies. That single principle, that new territory would become co-equal states rather than subordinate possessions, distinguished the American project from every empire that had come before. The Ordinance also guaranteed a set of rights to settlers in the territory: freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, habeas corpus, and proportionate representation—a bill of rights in miniature, adopted before the Bill of Rights.And in its most consequential provision, Article 6, the Ordinance banned slavery throughout the Northwest Territory—the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. It was the first time the national government prohibited slavery in a defined territory, drawing a line that would harden over the decades into the divide between free states and slave states, and setting up the bitter fights over the expansion of slavery that culminated in the Civil War. The significance of July 13, 1787 is that a Congress often dismissed as weak and ineffectual produced a statute of enduring genius—a template for national growth, an early charter of liberties, and a foundational stand, however partial, against slavery.Apple has sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California, accusing the AI company of a systematic scheme to steal its trade secrets in order to break into consumer hardware. It's a striking reversal for two companies that struck a high-profile partnership back in 2024. Apple's complaint alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract, claiming OpenAI leaned on former Apple employees—more than 400 now work there—along with aggressive recruiting and supplier relationships to vacuum up confidential information. Apple points a finger at OpenAI's hardware chief, a former Apple vice president, alleging he told job candidates still employed at Apple to bring “actual parts” to interviews for “show and tell,” and that another departing employee downloaded dozens of files on unreleased products. Trade-secret law protects confidential business information that gives a company a competitive edge, and the case will turn on whether OpenAI crossed the line from lawfully hiring talent—people are allowed to change jobs and use their general skills—into unlawfully exploiting Apple's protected secrets. Given the two firms' size and the stakes in the AI hardware race, this is shaping up to be a marquee tech dispute.Apple sues OpenAI alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, court records show | ReutersA federal judge has ruled that disabled Justice Department immigration lawyers can keep working from home while they press a lawsuit challenging the department's return-to-office mandate. Two attorney-advisers at the immigration courts won a preliminary injunction from Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in the Eastern District of Virginia, temporarily halting the no-telework policy as applied to them. Their claim rests on the Rehabilitation Act, the federal statute requiring the government, as an employer, to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities—here, remote work they say is necessary to protect their health. The administration's broad directive ordering federal workers back to the office full-time collided with that individualized duty. A preliminary injunction isn't a final ruling; it means the plaintiffs showed they're likely to win and would suffer irreparable harm without relief. The significance is the tension it spotlights: a government-wide, one-size-fits-all workplace policy still has to bend to statutory disability-accommodation rights, and this ruling suggests courts will enforce that limit even against the executive's management of its own workforce.US judge says DOJ lawyers can work from home pending lawsuit over telework policy | ReutersThe administration extended work permits for hundreds of thousands of immigrants with Temporary Protected Status from Haiti and six other countries just hours before they were set to expire. It's worth being precise about what actually changed. TPS is a humanitarian designation that lets people from countries in crisis live and work here legally. Last month the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to end TPS for Haitians and Syrians—but what was extended here is narrower: the validity of the employment-authorization documents that workers and employers rely on for I-9 and E-Verify purposes. Haitians got two extra weeks, to July 24; those from Syria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Myanmar got one. The underlying TPS designations remain in legal limbo, awaiting district-court orders expected at the end of July. The significance is both humanitarian and practical: the reprieve came as some employers had already begun terminating these workers, and it underscores how much uncertainty TPS holders are living under—their ability to keep a job now measured in days and weeks while the courts sort out their status.US extends work permits for Haitians, other immigrants with Temporary Protected Status | ReutersAnd finally, a federal appeals court has sanctioned a lawyer for filing a brief riddled with fake, AI-generated case citations—the latest entry in a fast-growing genre. The Eleventh Circuit rebuked the attorney with a line destined for law-review footnotes: “Whatever the merits of artificial intelligence, it is no substitute for actual intelligence.” The problem is by now familiar: generative AI tools will, with total confidence, invent case names, citations, and quotations that do not exist—”hallucinations”—and lawyers who paste that output into filings without checking are presenting fictional law to a court. That breaches a basic professional duty. Under Rule 11 and the courts' inherent authority, attorneys must certify that their legal contentions are grounded in real, existing law, and courts have been escalating the consequences—reimbursed fees, fines, and public reprimands—as the same mistake keeps recurring despite repeated warnings. The significance isn't that AI is banned from law practice; it plainly isn't. It's that the tool doesn't dilute the lawyer's responsibility one bit. You can use AI to draft, but you still have to verify, because when you sign a brief you vouch for every citation in it—and “the computer made it up” is not a defense.US appeals court rebukes lawyer over fake, hallucinated case citations | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

In the headlines today, a horrifying fire at a nightclub in Bangkok has left at least 27 dead and nearly 20 more seriously injured, then along the border with Myanmar airstrikes have been intensifying, we'll also take a look at the increasing rate of foreign homelessness in Bangkok, in regulatory news an opposition MP is pressing Anutin over gaps in Cannabis oversight, and a little later a bizarre case of a family dog bringing home a live grenade.

Sau hơn 100 ngày eo biển Hormuz bị phong tỏa, một dự án đường sắt bị đình trệ suốt hơn hai thập kỷ bất ngờ được thúc đẩy mạnh mẽ.Xem thêm.

- Lãnh đạo Liên minh thế giới các Trung tâm tài chính quốc tế tham gia Tổ Tư vấn Trung tâm Tài chính quốc tế Việt Nam tại TP HCM.- Thị trường huy động vốn sôi động khi nhiều ngân hàng tăng lãi suất chứng chỉ tiền gửi và các chương trình ưu đãi để hút dòng tiền nhàn rỗi.- Nhiều người dân ở Khao Mang, Lào Cai bị ảnh hưởng từ dự án thủy điện Hồ Bốn 2.- Ukraine cải tổ nội các, thay thế Thủ tướng đương nhiệm.- Hơn 10 nghìn trang bản thảo viết trên lá cọ gần 1.000 năm tuổi của Trung Quốc được số hóa để bảo tồn.

- Dự và chỉ đạo phiên họp thứ 2 Ban Chỉ đạo Trung ương về phát triển văn hoá Việt Nam, Tổng Bí thư, Chủ tịch nước Tô Lâm yêu cầu nâng cao sức hấp dẫn, khả năng lan tỏa và bảo vệ các giá trị văn hóa truyền thống Việt Nam.- Bộ Ngoại giao cùng tỉnh An Giang và các cơ quan chức năng liên quan, hỗ trợ khắc phục hậu quả vụ tai nạn lật ca nô ở Phú Quốc, khẩn trương tiến hành các biện pháp bảo hộ công dân Ấn độ gặp nạn.- Nhiều địa phương đẩy nhanh lấy mẫu ADN, ứng dụng công nghệ xác định danh tính các liệt sĩ còn thiếu thông tin.- Hơn 200 trường công bố điểm sàn đại học 2026, mức dao động từ 15-25 điểm.- Mỹ - Iran tăng cường độ tấn công, làn sóng bạo lực lan sang nhiều quốc gia láng giềng, làm tăng rủi ro đối với an ninh khu vực.- Chính quyền Thẩm Dương, Trung Quốc, nâng mức ứng phó lũ khẩn cấp lên mức cao nhất do bão Bavi. Trong khi Myanmar sơ tán hơn 1.600 người do lũ.- Tại Pháp, nắng nóng đỉnh điểm gây cháy rừng dữ dội, giao thông tê liệt và 37 tỉnh trong báo động đỏ.

VOV1 - Nhân chuyến thăm Nhật Bản và cuộc tiếp xúc của Phó thủ tướng, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Phan Văn Giang với Bộ trưởng Kihara Minoru - Chánh Văn phòng Nội các Nhật Bản, Bộ Ngoại giao Nhật Bản đã đưa ra một thông cáo, trong đó nhấn mạnh tầm, quan trọng của quan hệ song phương.Trong thông cáo vừa được đưa ra, Bộ Ngoại giao Nhật Bản cho biết, chiều nay (13/7), Bộ trưởng Kihara Minoru - Chánh Văn phòng Nội các Nhật Bản đã tiếp kiến ​​xã giao Đại tướng Phan Văn Giang - Phó Thủ tướng, Bộ trưởng Bộ Quốc phòng Việt Nam đang ở thăm Nhật Bản.Bộ trưởng Kihara hoan nghênh chuyến thăm Nhật Bản của Đại tướng Phan Văn Giang và khẳng định Nhật Bản sẽ cùng Việt Nam nỗ lực tăng cường hơn nữa “Quan hệ đối tác chiến lược toàn diện” và hiện thực hóa tầm nhìn “Ấn Độ Dương - Thái Bình Dương tự do và rộng mở” (FOIP) phiên bản mới.Đáp lại, Phó Thủ tướng, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Phan Văn Giang hoan nghênh sự giao lưu chặt chẽ giữa Nhật Bản và Việt Nam, nhất là chuyến thăm Việt Nam của Thủ tướng Nhật Bản Takaichi Sanae vào tháng 5 vừa qua, và bày tỏ mong muốn tiếp tục tăng cường hợp tác song phương, bao gồm cả lĩnh vực quốc phòng.Hai bên khẳng định sẽ phối hợp giải quyết các vấn đề quốc tế và khu vực quan trọng, bao gồm tình hình Trung Đông, tình hình Biển Hoa Đông và Biển Đông, vấn đề Triều Tiên và tình hình ở Myanmar…/.VOV Nhật BảnĐại tướng Phan Văn Giang chào xã giao Bộ trưởng Kihara Minoru - Chánh Văn phòng Nội các Nhật Bản hôm. Ảnh: Văn phòng Nội các Nhật Bản

Show Notes — GoNOMAD Travel Podcast Episode: Manipur's Sangai Festival — A Deer, A Floating National Park, and a Journey Across India's Jewel StateEpisode SummaryIn this episode, Max shares the story of Manipur's extraordinary Sangai Festival—a ten‑day celebration dedicated to a deer once believed extinct. Based on Sushant Pandey's travels, we explore Manipur's floating national park, the revival of the Sangai deer, and the cultural richness of this lesser‑known northeastern Indian state.Key Highlights from the EpisodeManipur: The Jewel StateA small northeastern state bordered by Myanmar, Manipur is known for its vast rice plains, mountain ranges, and deep cultural diversity. It's also the birthplace of modern polo and home to one of the most unusual ecosystems in the world.Loktak Lake & Keibul Lamjao National ParkThe episode dives into the story of Loktak Lake, a 40‑square‑kilometer expanse dotted with floating islands called phumdi. These form the foundation of Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world's only floating national park and the last refuge of the Sangai deer.“The Phumdi is a heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil, and organic matter… and they float over the water.”The Sangai Deer: From Extinction to Symbol of HopeDeclared extinct in the 1950s, the Sangai was rediscovered when just six individuals were spotted in 1953. Conservation efforts brought the population back to more than 260 by 2014. The deer's distinctive behavior—pausing and looking back as if “in awaiting”—is woven into Manipuri folklore.The Sangai Festival (November 21–30)Held across the state, with major events in Imphal and Moirang, the festival showcases:Manipuri dance and musicBamboo dances from across Northeast IndiaTribal arts, textiles, and sculpturesExhibitions, food stalls, and sporting eventsCultural performances at Bheigyachandra Open Air TheatreIt's one of the biggest festivals in Northeast India, rivaling Nagaland's Hornbill Festival.A Traveler's Journey Through ManipurSushant Pandey arrived in Manipur exhausted after 30 days riding through remote northeastern states. The festival revived him, and he extended his stay from six to ten days. He visited Loktak Lake, spotted Sangai deer from a watchtower, and rode to Moreh, a border town where Indian citizens can cross 16 km into Myanmar without a visa.Imphal: Culture, History, and ChaosThe episode also touches on Imphal's:Manipur State MuseumImphal War CemeteryKangla FortMapal Kangjeibung, the world's oldest polo groundThese sites deepen the understanding of Manipur's layered cultural identity.Travel Tips MentionedBest time to visit: November–December (Sangai + Hornbill overlap)Best time to spot Sangai deer: early morning or eveningBoat rides inside the national park reveal the floating phumdiImphal offers affordable lodging (rooms around ₹500)Roads in Manipur are better than in many neighboring statesLinks & Further ExplorationSangai DeerKeibul Lamjao National ParkMoreh Border TownImphal Travel TipsGoNOMAD article about Manipur and the Sangai Deer FestivalListen to MoreExplore 300+ GoNOMAD Travel Podcast episodes—each 5–8 minutes—at Voyascape.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

VOV1 - Ngày 12/7, tại Bangkok (Thái Lan), đã diễn ra Cuộc gặp không chính thức giữa các Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao ASEAN với Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Myanmar Dưới sự chủ trì của Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Philippines Maria Theresa P. Lazaro – nước Chủ tịch ASEAN 2026. Đồng chí Lê Hoài Trung, Ủy viên Bộ Chính trị, Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao đã dẫn đầu Đoàn Việt Nam tham dự cuộc gặp.Đây là cuộc gặp trực tiếp cấp Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao đầu tiên, đồng thời là tiếp xúc cấp cao nhất giữa ASEAN và Myanmar kể từ năm 2021, thể hiện tinh thần đoàn kết và vai trò trung tâm của ASEAN trong thúc đẩy đối thoại, hợp tác với Myanmar. Sự kiện được tổ chức theo chỉ đạo từ các nhà Lãnh đạo ASEAN tại Hội nghị Cấp cao ASEAN lần thứ 48 tại Cebu (Philippines) nhằm duy trì hỗ trợ Myanmar bám sát các nguyên tắc của Đồng thuận 5 điểm.Tại cuộc gặp, Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Myanmar Tin Maung Swe đã thông tin về các diễn tiến gần đây tại Myanmar, bao gồm kế hoạch 100 ngày và các biện pháp thúc đẩy hòa bình, ổn định, duy trì tiếp xúc với các bên liên quan. Trên tinh thần thẳng thắn và xây dựng, các Ngoại trưởng ASEAN đã chia sẻ đánh giá tình hình, trao đổi các giải pháp nâng cao hiệu quả phối hợp hỗ trợ Myanmar triển khai thực chất Đồng thuận 5 điểm. Các nước khẳng định sẽ tiếp tục duy trì đối thoại với đại diện chính quyền Myanmar, hỗ trợ tìm kiếm giải pháp lâu dài do Myanmar làm chủ và dẫn dắt, vì mục tiêu hòa bình, ổn định và thịnh vượng bền vững cho người dân cũng như toàn khu vực.Cuộc gặp không chính thức giữa các Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao ASEAN với Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Myanmar tại Bangkok, Thái Lan ngày 12/7/2026. (Ảnh: VOV Bangkok)

An introduction to the The Travel Addict Podcast - Stories from the HostThe Spoken Word to The Written Word - Volume One and Volume TwoAvailable now at Bookstores - eBook and Printed Versions.Become immersed in Malcolm's experience into incredible places on our wonderful planet:PlacesBhutan, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Laos, Sweden, Mongolia, Russia, Myanmar, Namibia, Philippines, Thailand, Slovenia, India, Indonesia, Tibet, Argentina, Germany, Borneo, Brazil, Zambia, Nordics, Caribbean, Arctic, and more.Personal OpinionsBest of - Countries, Islands, Hotels, Thought Provoking Places, Secred Places, CruisingNear Misses, Mayhem, Bucket List, Languange Nuances, and moreDiscovery, Education, Fulfillment, Wonder, Repect, AcceptanceMemories for a Lifetimehttps://www.authormalcolmteasdale.com/http://www.malcolmteasdale.com

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations prepare for their first talks with Myanmar since the 2021 coup. Plus: we examine how Londoners are living with and adapting to extreme heat. And: how flamenco can improve our communication skills. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Diese Woche war anders. Wir mussten Abschied nehmen. Unsere Kollegin, Freundin, Tierforscherin und Podcasterin Lydia Möcklinghoff ist bei einem Flugzeugunglück in Brasilien ums Leben gekommen. Michi hat sie auf der Hausboot-Reise in Irland kennengelernt und erzählt in dieser Folge von einem Menschen, der einen ganzen Pub voller Fremder innerhalb von Minuten zu einem Freundeskreis machen konnte. Einer Frau, die das Leben und die Menschen liebte. Wir werden sie sehr vermissen.Außerdem geht es um Tipps für Reisen mit Freunden, den Mut zum “Ja”, eine spontane Taxifahrt quer durch Myanmar und die Frage, warum wir Privilegierten oft so traurige Musik hören, während anderswo das Leben gefeiert wird. Und um Madonna, die mit über sechzig eine Platte gemacht hat, die frischer klingt als vieles andere.—Unsere Werbepartner findet ihr hier.Mehr Reisen Reisen gibt es bei Instagram.Abboniere unseren Newsletter unter https://www.reisenreisen.info/p/newsletterFoto-Credit: Thomas Rabsch Instagram—IN MEMORIAMLydia Möcklinghoff (1980–2026) — Eine der bedeutendsten Ameisenbären-Forscherinnen Deutschlands, Zoologin, Autorin und Podcasterin; verstorben am 3. Juli 2026 bei einem Flugzeugunglück in Brasilien auf dem Weg zu ihrer Feldforschung im Pantanal. Michi hat sie auf der gemeinsamen Irland-Reise kennengelernt.

- Đoàn đại biểu cấp cao Bộ trưởng quốc phòng 2 nước Việt Nam – Lào dự giao lưu hữu nghị quốc phòng biên giới Việt Nam - Lào lần thứ III.- Bán hàng trên sàn thương mại điện tử, nhiều doanh nghiệp càng bán càng lỗ.- Tạp chí du lịch hàng đầu thế giới, Travel + Leisure ca ngợi du lịch, ẩm thực Việt Nam.- Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao các nước ASEAN thúc đẩy giải pháp cho tình hình tại Myanmar.- Singapore cảnh báo lừa đảo deepfake mạo danh Thủ tướng Lawrence Wong.

In the headlines today, a prominent 'looksmaxxing' influencer dies after an erratic episode in Samut Prakan, down in Phuket, police raids target alleged Russian cybercrime network, in Bangkok protesters press China over river pollution from Myanmar mines, then, up in China a Thai police captain is being investigated after cannabis was found in his luggage, in Krabi a Canadian man has been arrested after stealing an ambulance for a joy ride, and a little later in Phuket a restaurant owner is accusing a customer of planting a hair in their soup in order to dodge paying a bill.

VOV1 - Trong khuôn khổ chuyến thăm chính thức Malaysia từ ngày 9-10/7, Thủ tướng Thái Lan Anutin Charnvirakul đã hội đàm với Thủ tướng Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim và thống nhất nhiều định hướng hợp tác quan trọng về an ninh, thương mại, kết nối biên giới và các vấn đề khu vực. Phát biểu tại họp báo sau hội đàm, Thủ tướng Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim cho biết hai bên đã đạt được đồng thuận về nhiều nội dung trọng tâm:“Chúng tôi thảo luận về việc đẩy nhanh tiến độ xây dựng cây cầu thứ hai kết nối bang Kelantan của Malaysia với tỉnh Narathiwat của Thái Lan. Hai bên cũng đặt mục tiêu nâng kim ngạch thương mại song phương lên 30 tỷ USD vào năm 2027; đồng thời nhất trí thúc đẩy phát triển các đặc khu kinh tế biên giới, nâng cao hiệu quả hợp tác hải quan và xuất nhập cảnh.”An ninh biên giới là một trong những nội dung trọng tâm của cuộc hội đàm trong bối cảnh tình hình bạo lực tại miền Nam Thái Lan thời gian qua có chiều hướng gia tăng. Các nhóm vũ trang tiếp tục lợi dụng địa hình phức tạp dọc biên giới Thái Lan - Malaysia để ẩn náu và tiến hành các vụ tấn công nhằm vào lực lượng chức năng cũng như hạ tầng công cộng. Thủ tướng Thái Lan Anutin Charnvirakul đánh giá cao vai trò trung gian của Malaysia trong tiến trình đối thoại hòa bình với các nhóm vũ trang:“Tôi trân trọng vai trò của Malaysia trong thúc đẩy tiến trình đối thoại hòa bình, cũng như lập trường của Thủ tướng Malaysia phản đối mọi hành vi bạo lực và cam kết phối hợp với Thái Lan trong xử lý các trường hợp phạm pháp. Hai bên khẳng định sẽ tiếp tục tăng cường hợp tác chặt chẽ giữa các cơ quan quốc phòng và an ninh.”Bên cạnh hợp tác về an ninh, hai nước cũng nhất trí tăng cường phối hợp bảo đảm chuỗi cung ứng, an ninh lương thực, an ninh năng lượng và thúc đẩy phát triển kinh tế số. Nhân dịp này, lãnh đạo hai nước đã chứng kiến lễ ký Bản ghi nhớ hợp tác trong lĩnh vực nông nghiệp. Hai bên cũng trao đổi về một số vấn đề khu vực, trong đó có việc thúc đẩy đối thoại nhằm tìm kiếm giải pháp cho tình hình Myanmar. Tối 9/7, Thủ tướng Thái Lan sẽ gặp gỡ cộng đồng doanh nghiệp Thái Lan đang đầu tư, kinh doanh tại Malaysia để lắng nghe các kiến nghị thúc đẩy hợp tác kinh tế, thương mại và đầu tư giữa hai nước. Ngày 10/7, Thủ tướng Anutin và Thủ tướng Anwar cùng các quan chức cấp cao sẽ tham dự lễ khánh thành tuyến đường mới kết nối khu vực hải quan, xuất nhập cảnh và kiểm dịch Sadao của tỉnh Songkhla với phía Malaysia tại bang Kedah. Đây là công trình hạ tầng quan trọng, góp phần tăng cường kết nối biên giới, tạo thuận lợi cho lưu thông hàng hóa và giao lưu nhân dân giữa hai nước.Quan hệ Thái Lan - Malaysia thời gian gần đây tiếp tục phát triển tích cực trên nhiều lĩnh vực. Trong ASEAN, Malaysia hiện là đối tác thương mại lớn nhất của Thái Lan, trong khi Thái Lan là đối tác thương mại lớn thứ hai của Malaysia. Năm 2025, kim ngạch thương mại song phương đạt hơn 27,7 tỷ USD. Trong quý I/2026, Thái Lan cũng nằm trong nhóm 5 nhà đầu tư nước ngoài lớn nhất tại Malaysia, cho thấy dư địa hợp tác kinh tế, thương mại và đầu tư giữa hai nước vẫn còn rất lớn.PV/VOV- BangkokThủ tướng Thái Lan Anutin Charnvirakul và Thủ tướng Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim tham dự cuộc gặp song phương giữa hai nước tại Malaysia (Ảnh: Reuters) 

Episode #567: Stella Naw, a Kachin academic activist focused on indigenous and decolonial peacebuilding, is joined by Dustin Barter, a senior research fellow at the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI, and together they argue that in the turmoil since the 2021 coup, ethnic resistance organizations (EROs) and their civil society partners are reshaping governance and legitimacy from the ground up, even as international recognition and aid decline. Stella traces the problem to Myanmar's founding. Before 1948, indigenous communities governed themselves. The creation of the Union imposed internal and external borders that divided communities and ignored longstanding political realities. After the military consolidated power in the 1960s, governance became increasingly centralized, and divide-and-conquer tactics deepened ethnic and religious fragmentation. In response to state neglect, EROs began to build parallel systems—schools, clinics, land administration, and local dispute resolution—in areas beyond effective central control. During the 2010s political opening, international engagement centered on Naypyidaw and Yangon. The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), a centralized peace framework between the military and selected ethnic armed organizations, drew major donor funding and pressure on non-signatories. While it introduced some reforms, Stella and Dustin argue it ultimately reinforcedcentralization and sidelined federal visions emerging from border regions. After the coup, urban protest evolved into nationwide armed resistance aligned with longstanding EROs. As junta control contracted, regional authorities expanded governance. In Kachin and Karenni, resistance-linked institutions collaborate with civil society and religious networks, emphasizing accountability. Stella challenges international definitions of legitimacy, arguing it should derive from sustained relationships between governing actors and communities. Though some fear decentralization may marginalize minorities within minority regions, Dustin maintains that complexity requires inclusive negotiation, not disengagement. With humanitarian funding shrinking, he calls for cross-border aid and sustained diplomatic pressure. As he concludes, “The best pathway forward… is for the revolution to succeed.”

Myanmar's current economic crisis, acute scarcity of jobs, and pervasive instability, "Japan" has emerged as a primary exit route for most of the Myanmar's youth.

VOV1 - Các cuộc giao tranh giữa quân đội Myanmar và nhóm phiến quân đang diễn biến phức tạp tại huyện Myawaddy, bang Kayin, giáp ranh với huyện Maesot, tỉnh Tak của Thái Lan. Hôm qua (5/7), một quả đạn cối 60mm và đạn từ súng máy đã lạc sang vùng lãnh thổ của Thái Lan, trúng nhà người dân.Truyền thông địa phương mới đây cho biết, các cuộc giao tranh giữa quân đội Myanmar và nhóm nổi dậy Liên minh Quốc gia Karen (KNU) đang diễn ra căng thẳng, với việc các bên sử dụng cả vũ khí hạng nặng. Nhiều tiếng nổ có thể nghe rõ từ khu vực biên giới phía Thái Lan. Trong ngày hôm qua, một quả đạn cối đã rơi trúng nhà một người dân Thái Lan, trong khi đạn từ súng máy cũng bắn vào một ngôi nhà khác khi bên trong có hai người. Hiện chưa ghi nhận thương vong trong các vụ việc này.Lực lượng đặc nhiệm Ratchamanu của Thái Lan đã đến kiểm tra hiện trường và hỗ trợ người dân xử lý vật liệu nổ còn sót lại. Quân đội Thái Lan cũng đã tăng cường lực lượng, siết chặt an ninh dọc tuyến biên giới và phong tỏa một số điểm qua lại biên giới gần khu vực giao tranh, nhằm bảo đảm chủ quyền lãnh thổ và an toàn của người dân.Đại tá Chanakan Saengsorn, Chỉ huy lực lượng đặc nhiệm Ratchamanu, đồng thời là người đứng đầu phía Thái Lan trong cơ chế Ủy ban biên giới cấp địa phương Thái Lan - Myanmar (TBC) đã gặp, làm việc với phía đối tác Myanmar về tình hình giao tranh và tác động với người dân tại khu vực biên giới.  Trước đó, ngày 22/6, giới chức Thái Lan từng phải tạm thời đóng cửa một trường học tại huyện Maesot để đảm bảo an toàn cho giáo viên và học sinh, trước nguy cơ đạn lạc từ các cuộc giao tranh giữa quân đội Myanmar và nhóm phiên quân ở bên kia biên giới./.VOV/Thái LanMột chiến binh thuộc nhóm nổi dậy Liên minh Quốc gia Karen (KNU) mang theo súng phóng lựu ở ngoại ô Myawaddy, Myanmar - Nguồn Reuters

Episode #565: In Anyar, or the central Dry Zone, community protection is by necessity locally led and informed by facts on the ground. In a huge area comprising swathes of Sagaing, Magway, and Mandalay regions, often referred to as the country's “political heartland”, communities have faced intensified violence since the coup and persistent barriers to access, information, and livelihoods.Kant Kaw is a protection specialist, and she explains how humanitarian work, including humanitarian mine action, is being implemented on the ground under these challenging conditions.Unlike many ethnic areas in Myanmar, Anyar was relatively untouched by armed conflict prior to the 2021 military takeover. Communities were largely free from contamination by landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance (UXO), and explosive remnants of war (ERW).“There are a lot of casualties in central Dry Zone due to military patrols, airstrikes or incidents of landmines and UXO in the community,” Kant Kaw says. “This is a heartbreaking moment for our area.”As a protection specialist, her work focuses on supporting youth empowerment, education, and community protection, including risk assessment and protection strategies to mitigate threats from landmines and other forms of conflict. Airstrikes rank as the most serious threat to civilians, with military patrols and checkpoints posing serious dangers for civilians, alongside the growing threat of landmines and ERW.The humanitarian mine action brief includes risk education and victim assistance, without direct involvement in ad hoc demining being carried out by some armed groups as well as civilians. Kant Kaw provides training to staff covering risks related to landmines and UXO, how to identify such devices, and safe behaviors, using posters, pamphlets, and storybooks for children.

"They are not happy with just Vietnam, just Thailand - now they are going after Australia!" The scale of ambition and speed of commercial aggression shown by Vietnamese airlines is a stand-out feature of 2026, and there is no sign of a slowdown. On our monthly round-up of the top travel and tourism talking points in South East Asia and beyond in June, Gary and Hannah look at how airline strategies are shifting in ASEAN, Asia, Australia and the Middle East East - and the new threads tying them together. Plus, the Mekong Tourism Forum in Yangon suggests Myanmar is being welcomed back onto South East Asia's tourism map. On an upbeat note, Love and Tourism are being rephrased in the Philippines, but coming back down to earth, Thailand is building a border wall between itself and Cambodia. Plus, we test the thermal waters of Bangkok's forthcoming  mega-wellness development, and finish with a look at KL's just-opened durian experience centre. Are durians the new ambassadors of ASEAN tourism? All this, and much more...

Episode #564: “We want to make federalism not just as a slogan, but also as an action. We want to turn it into action!” Neineh Plo is secretary to the International Relations and Alliance committee of the Karenni National Progressive Party, and he has worked closely with the KNPP since the 2021 coup through international relations, humanitarian work, and headquarters administration. He describes Karenni State as a place where resistance actors are forced to do two things at once under war pressure: protect civilians at scale, and build an interim governing system credible enough to hold a diverse state together. Neineh Plo argues that Karenni State's diversity makes unilateral leadership both illegitimate and self-defeating. “KNPP cannot do it alone,” he asserts, “and should not also do it alone and impose its agenda on other people.” He describes the KNPP reaching out to other stakeholders and forming the Karenni State Consultative Council, then drafting interim arrangements meant to translate coordination into real authority. Those arrangements created interim executive, legislative, and judiciary bodies, with the interim executive council providing the most visible services. The list he gives is bluntly practical: humanitarian assistance, food and shelter, civilian protection, education, healthcare, and limited rehabilitation and livelihood support. On the international side, Neineh Plo describes access as constrained by aid systems built to work through the junta's capital. He says organizations willing to cooperate with non-state actors are limited, even as needs expand in displacement and war zones. Here he references cross-border assistance as a longstanding pathway, but argues for an added channel that can reach resistance-held areas directly, including a proposed inclusive humanitarian forum meant to bring donors and Myanmar stakeholders into a workable design. Neineh Plo treats negotiation as a daily discipline inside the wider resistance ecosystem, including relationships with the National Unity Government. “We disagree,” he says simply, “but at least we are on the same side of the movement.” Federalism, in his framing, is the only model capable of accommodating Myanmar's differences without returning to domination, and he insists that it has to be practiced now through structures and coalition governance rather than promised later.

World news in 7 minutes. Thursday 2nd July 2026.Today : Ireland EU Council. Germany Nord Stream charges. Belgium apartment fire. Malta murder trial. Ivory Coast floods. Nigeria oil asset. Qatar US-Iran talks. Kazakhstan snap election. Myanmar dam project. Pakistan tutoring centre collapse. Cuba US talks stalled. United States earthquake relief. Canada joins Eurovision.SEND7 is supported by our amazing listeners like you.Our supporters get access to the transcripts and vocabulary list written by us every day.Our supporters get access to an English worksheet made by us once per week.Our supporters get access to our weekly news quiz made by us once per week.We give 10% of our profit to Effective Altruism charities.You can become a supporter at send7.org/supportWith Juliet MartinSign up for the new free Friday newsletter - www.send7.org/newsletterContact us at podcast@send7.org or send an audio message at speakpipe.com/send7We don't use AI! Every word is written and recorded by us! We do not consent to the podcast being used to train AI.Since 2020, SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) has been telling the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi, Juliet Martin and Ben Mallett every morning. Transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and our weekly world news quiz are available for our amazing supporters at send7.org. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated daily news in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, TEFL teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they use SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.Get your daily news and improve your English listening in the time it takes to make a coffee.For more information visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org

Episode #563: As president of the CCDK (Chin Community in Denmark), a non-profit organization established in 2003 by refugees from Myanmar, Van Neih Thang believes he has a duty to advocate for the people of his home country and state. This unwavering sense of purpose is tied to his experience as a refugee. “I feel like I have some duty to do something, even though I'm one thousand miles away.”Van Neih Thang's parents made the difficult decision to leave Myanmar when he was just thirteen years old. He describes his humble life in Chin State, one of Myanmar's most beautiful yet most deprived regions, before being swept away at such a young age to a place where the people look and sound very different. Learning the Danish language was hard, he admits, but that was the only aspect of his new home that he found difficult. Amid the culture shocks, he made friends and developed a passion for education, eventually becoming an influential community leader within the Chin diaspora.His connection to Chin State and its people never disappeared. He says that providing humanitarian assistance to the Chin people, as well as the wider population in Myanmar, is crucial. Since the coup in 2021, the military has devastated the region, destroying whole towns, while its people lack equipment and financial support. Van Neih Thang discusses the Chin groups that are fighting the junta, how these groups are divided by generations and language. When asked to consider what a post-military Myanmar might look like, it is clear he does not believe in easy answers. Van Neih Thang reflects on how life could've been different, especially as a young Chin. He is conscious of his privileged position, calling that privilege a blessing. But, he says, “it is a blessing with a purpose.”

Got started this week with the devastating earthquake in Venezuela and then reflected on the Myanmar civil war on its fifth anniversary. Plus more Iran strikes, UK prime minster resigns, Canada InCel shooing, NYC primaries, and an Oklahoma woman is claiming that she caught herpes from an Arby's worker spitting into her roast beef.

In “Dharma & Empire,” Mary Thanissara and Vince Fakhoury Horn trace how the structures of Empire occupy not just land but the psyche—moving from their own Irish, Palestinian, and colonial family histories to Gaza, climate, and class—and ask what a more revolutionary Dharma might require of practitioners right now.

A fun tale from Myanmar about a group of squirrels who have to make a compromise with a hive of bees so that they can all live peacefully in the same tree.  A great way to teach children about the importance of team work and making compromises. An episode from Journey with Story - a storytelling podcast for kids ages 4-10.  (duration -12 minutes)   We have suspended our Patreon platform for now.  But, you can receive all of this month's coloring sheets by signing up for my newsletter and you will also receive some terrific resources for raising kids who LOVE to read.  Sing up for free now at www.journeywithstory.com If your little listener wants to ask us a question or send us a drawing inspired by one of our episodes, send it to us at instagram@journeywithstory.  Or you can contact us at www.journeywithstory.com.  We love to hear from our listeners. If you enjoy our podcast, you can rate, review, and subscribe at here Did you know Kathleen is also a children's picture book author, you can find out more about her books at www.kathleenpelley.com    

As a global power, China faces a growing tension between its ambitions to reshape the international order and its disinterest in bearing the costs of upholding that new system. In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Sam Chetwin George, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society's Center on U.S.–China Relations and Research Fellow at China Heritage, to explore Beijing's evolving perspectives on the post-World War II order and what comes next. They discuss China's vision for global governance, the ideological foundations of its international strategy, how its domestic economic challenges may shape its international priorities, and how it approaches the conflicts in Ukraine, Iran, and Myanmar.   To learn more about Sam's perspectives on Chinese foreign policy, you can read his new Foreign Affairs article, China Was Ready for the Age of Anarchy: Why Turbulence Will Make Beijing More Assertive. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/china-was-ready-age-anarchy

In this week's episode of China Insider, Miles Yu looks into the detention of U Min Zin, a US and Myanmar scholar, while attending an academic workshop in Yunnan Province under allegations of espionage, and details the extent of the diplomatic response since and the current state of academic freedom in China. Next, Miles reviews the bilateral trade relationship between the European Union and China, as EU trade officials claim the status quo is not sustainable either economically or politically and seek to rebalance the current goods deficit. Finally, Miles covers the outcomes from the G7 summit, as leaders agreed to coordinate further reductions in reliance on China's critical mineral supply chains, including plans to align stockpiling, and what this initiative will mean for both the global REM market and China going forward. China Insider is a weekly podcast project from Hudson Institute's China Center, hosted by China Center Director and Senior Fellow, Dr. Miles Yu, who provides weekly news that mainstream American outlets often miss, as well as in-depth commentary and analysis on the China challenge and the free world's future. 

Today I'm sharing a lightly edited version of a conversation I first had with my two daughters exactly one year ago this week, on Father's Day. I personally enjoyed listening to it again, and even learned a few things that I had forgotten (lol), even though I am one of the actors in the story. Thank you for listening and please join our family in praying for China! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. Follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post daily reminders to pray for China. X is also the best way to contact me. Just follow and send a DM. You can also email me @ bfwesten at gmail dot com The China Compass Podcast is brought to you by Pray for China (PrayforChina.us): Sat, June 20 - Pray for Mangshi City in western Yunnan’s picturesque and peak-filled Dehong Prefecture, along the Myanmar border: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangshi Home to myriad mountains and minorities, Yunnan is paired with Arkansas and Louisiana for prayer. For more info: https://prayforchina.us/index.php/yunnan/ *Remember that today in China, thousands of pastors will be detained/harassed/persecuted for faithfully leading their flocks. (Heb. 13:3)* Sun, June 21 - Pray for Changxing County in northern Zhejiang’s Huzhou Prefecture, on the south shore of Lake Tai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changxing_County Zhejiang Province is aptly paired with North Carolina for prayer. Learn more about both Zhejiang and Hudson Taylor here: https://prayforchina.us/index.php/zhejiang/ Mon, June 22 - Pray for Tingri County in Tibet’s most populous prefecture, Shigatse, in central Tibet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tingri_County Tibet is paired for prayer with the mountain states of MT, ID, WY, (northern) UT & (northern) CO. Visits by Westerners are mostly forbidden and the vast majority have never heard the Gospel: https://prayforchina.us/index.php/tibet/ If you want to join us all this week, here are all the Chinese cities to pray for from now til June 28... https://open.substack.com/pub/chinacall/p/pray-for-china-june-22-28-2026 Who is Missionary Ben? I haven’t done this in a long time, but every now and then I am reminded I should probably give a little bit more of my background (and my China bonafides). Now I can’t divulge very much, for security reasons, but here are the basics: moved to China at the age of 19, in the early 2000s, taught myself to speak (and read) Chinese. Lived there w/ my family til I was deported in 2018. Unbeaten: The Story of My Arrest, Interrogation, and Deportation from China (Unbeaten.vip) Over those nearly 15 years, I set foot in every province, and visited hundreds of cities, towns, and villages. Alongside our evangelistic work, I helped manage a leather factory in a Muslim town, opened a yak burger/pizza restaurant on the Tibetan Plateau, served as a guide and Tibetan taxi driver, and taught English to elementary kids, high schoolers, and young adults. How I Taught Myself Mandarin (And How You Can Learn Too, But Won’t) https://chinacall.substack.com/p/how-i-taught-myself-mandarin Follow or subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Don’t forget: Follow @chinaadventures on X, and find everything else @ PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few!

Rebels fighting the military government in Myanmar have told the BBC they're losing ground because of a shortage of manpower and equipment. Also: after exchanging attacks overnight, the US and Iran accuse each other of damaging negotiations; Afghanistan says Pakistan killed 13 civilians in cross-border air strikes; police in South Africa launch a manhunt after 12 people are shot dead; and how you can tell if your dog favours using one paw over another.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk Photo: Myanmar rebels in a pickup truck Credit: BBC/Darren Conway