s growing stake in Asean, the region's economic bloc, part of a calculated bid for greater military and political influence In 2015, south-east Asia will become one sprawling economic zone encompassing Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei. Already bound by myriad political and trade agreements, these 10 countries comprising Asean (Association...
re talking about 10-15 years until pretty much all orangutans [in Kalimantan] are gone." Home to 90% of the world's orangutans, Indonesia also has one of the highest rates of deforestation – a phenomenon driven by a combination of illegal logging, palm oil plantations and gold mining. Loss of habitat is the main reason behind the steep decline in both the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and its...
s increasing international power and confidence. Experts say the stand-off between China and Vietnam - two of the six powers laying claim to a number of islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea - is the worst for more than two decades. Vietnam held live-fire exercises off its coast on Monday, in what analysts said was a response without precedent. The complex dispute over sovereignty...
s richest men, Jefri has enjoyed the fruits of fabulous wealth but also seen huge slices of his fortune stripped from him. He has been engaged in a protracted case in the UK courts with his brother, Hassanal Bolkiah, who accused him of embezzling $15bn from the Brunei Investment Agency, which he used to chair. He is currently facing a UK arrest warrant for failing to attend court to give evidence at...
back home' What keeps you motivated? Teaching wonderfully polite and co-operative students who respond well to innovation in teaching. I particularly enjoy teaching English literature. Students love adapting famous works to local themes and situations. For example, my class recently made a short movie of Much Ado About Nothing with Bruneian-Malay traditional dress and props combined with traditional...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
s claims add fresh intrigue to a convoluted tale that already takes in the fabulously wealthy royal family of Brunei, alleged political corruption and a jewel-encrusted Qur'an supposedly obtained from a former KGB agent. Burby, a Jersey-based entrepreneur, previously best known for winning a £50m legal case against a company owned by relatives of the Sultan of Brunei, said he had received threats from...