Myanmar

Australian public broadcaster SBS on July 28 defended a reality show where participants were shot at by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria as part of a trip retracing refugees' journeys, saying they had extensive security preparations.

Thailand on July 24 said it would indict 72 people including a senior army officer over human trafficking after the grim trade in migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh rocked the Southeast Asian region.

Boris Kanev and Marta Samalea, a couple from Bulgaria, needed 511 days to hitch-hike across Asia to reach India, Hindustan Times has reported.

Burma, the kitten they picked up on their way, became their third companion in the journey.

After previously hosting refugees from Syria and Myanmar, the streets of Turkey's resort town of Bodrum are now being used as an outdoor camping site by Pakistani refugees. 

Bodrum's bazaar, known for its attraction for domestic and foreign tourists, has now become an outdoor home to many young Pakistani men who left their country for a better life.

Myanmar's navy has discovered over a hundred migrants stranded for weeks on a southern island, state media said on July 14, in the wake of a regional boat crisis earlier this year.

International brewers are trickling into Myanmar, betting that higher incomes and economic reforms will whip up a thirst for foreign beer in a market that has long been dominated by state-owned firms.

Two recent initiatives will likely galvanize the "Middle Kingdom" - already the world's most populous country, second largest economy, number-one trading nation, and biggest energy consumer - into further consolidating its global ambitions. 

"Exiled To Nowhere: Burma's Rohingya," a photography exhibition by acclaimed U.S. documentary photographer Greg Constantine, will open at Galata Foto?rafhanesi in Istanbul on July 4.  

The exhibition will highlight the persecution and human rights violations against the stateless Rohingya community in Burma.

"Exiled To Nowhere: Burma's Rohingya," a photography exhibition by acclaimed U.S. documentary photographer Greg Constantine, will open at Galata Foto?rafhanesi in Istanbul on July 4.  

The exhibition will highlight the persecution and human rights violations against the stateless Rohingya community in Burma.

China on June 24 gave its first-ever assessment of the scourge of drug abuse, saying it caused annual economic losses of 500 billion yuan ($80.54 billion) and as many as 49,000 deaths last year. 

China has intensified a crackdown on drugs as the rise of a new urban class with greater disposable income has fuelled a surge in the numbers of drug addicts.