Thailand
Gina Haspel Observed Waterboarding at C.I.A. Black Site, Psychologist Testifies
WASHINGTON — During Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing to become director of the C.I.A. in 2018, Senator Dianne Feinstein asked her if she had overseen the interrogations of a Saudi prisoner, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, which included the use of a waterboard. Ms. Haspel declined to answer, saying it was part of her classified career. While there […]
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In This Small Thai Village, American History Runs Deep
BAAN MAE KUA, Thailand — Ten-year-old Sao Yotkantha was helping his father in their rice field when he heard the roar of an airplane unusually close. He looked up and saw a twin-engine plane hit the ground a half mile away and burst into flames. It was World War II, and the crash of the […]
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(Bangkok): A Push for Parentheses Miffs Thais (Who Have Bigger Problems)
BANGKOK — Each morning in her market stall in the Bangkok Noi district of the Thai capital, Jintana Rapsomruay rolls balls of dough into a snack known for its resemblance to the eggs of an oversize lizard. The sweet treat, which looks like a doughnut hole, was supposedly invented by a consort of the first […]
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In Asia, Covid-19 Rules Fall Away, With a Big Caveat
MANILA — In the Philippines, tens of thousands are crowding into political rallies in Manila, and the zoo there is packed. In India, millions fanned out last weekend to celebrate a Hindu festival. And in South Korea, 15,000 fans descended on a stadium in Seoul for three nights to see the K-pop band BTS perform […]
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Southeast Asia’s Tourist Spots Are Open, but Visitors Are Scarce
Indonesia reopened the island of Bali to fully vaccinated tourists from 19 countries in October. But only two foreign nationals arrived that month — both by sea — and its airport is not yet receiving international flights. Bali, one of the world’s most popular destinations, is among several tourism hot spots in Southeast Asia that […]
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He Sold Away His People’s Heritage. He’s in the Jungle to Get It Back.
As Toek Tik recounts it, he was a teenage foot soldier for the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the late 1970s when he first realized that looting ancient statues could be a lucrative trade. Once, while bartering stolen cattle for clothing along the border with Thailand, he recalled, a trading partner gestured toward his […]
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