Exactly two weeks after knocking offline almost 300 Thai Courts of Justice websites, hackers associated with the Anonymous collective have taken out 20 Corrections Department prison sites, continuing their cyber crusade against the death sentences given to two Myanmar men for the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao.

In a post to the Anonymous for Justice Facebook page, a relatively small community among numerous Anonymous pages, "hacktivists" belonging to the Blink Hackers Group posted a screenshot of a web server status check page showing that the main Corrections Department website was offline.

It was quickly restored and online by 10am.

The same could not be said for the other 19 sites, which all returned "server not found" messages as of 10.45am.

In its Facebook post, the group this time did not mention the Christmas Eve sentencing of Zaw Lin and WynZawHtun for the September 2014 rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge and murder of David Miller on the Surat Thani resort island. But the group listed a number of hashtags, including #KohTaoan #BoycottThailand, a common theme running through all the hackers' previous cyber attacks.

The post also included a new hashtag: #LukeMiller. It refers to the young UK tourist who, while reportedly high on drugs, drowned after diving into a swimming pool on Koh Tao on Jan 10. His family, which was in the UK at the time, contends he was murdered.

The same group of hacktivists shut down 297 Thai Courts of Justice websites in protest over the ‎Koh Tao murder ruling on Jan 13 and claimed to have defaced Royal Thai Police websites on Jan 5. The group also claimed to have stolen large quantities of court records and vowed to expose corrupt legal authorities but, as of yet, have not released any more court data.

Critics of the court sentence claim the 22-year-old Myanmar men were tortured by police and forced to confess to a crime they did not commit, then were railroaded in a botched investigation using questionable DNA evidence.

Anonymous is a loosely organised band of computer users that has launched cyber attacks against businesses, terrorist groups and governments it feels has affronted society's norms. Fringe groups often claim Anonymous support to launch their own attacks.

Anonymous, however, has been vocal in its criticism of the handling of the Koh Tao case. It prepared a 40-minute video detailing what it claims were the shortcomings in the investigation and has tacitly or explicitly endorsed several cyber attacks against the Thai government and police.

At least five websites were penetrated on Jan 5 -- the Police Clearance Certificate Centre, Metropolitan Police Bureau, Marine Police Division and the Phichit provincial police office - and the hacker group claimed eight others were taken down.

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Thai police said Monday over 100 people have been arrested in a crackdown on human trafficking since the European Union threatened to boycott the country's multi-billion dollar fishing industry over the issue.

The EU hit Thailand with a "yellow card" warning last April, threatening to ban all seafood exports unless the military government tackled rampant illegal fishing and labour abuses among its fleets.

A delegation from Brussels visited the kingdom last month to assess progress but did not say when it would reach a decision on the boycott, which could cost Thailand $1 billion annually. 

Thailand is the world's third largest exporter of seafood -- a status that rights groups say is achieved through overfishing and a reliance on low-paid trafficked workers from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia.

It is desperate to avoid any costly sanctions on the fishing sector.

Police insist they have ramped up efforts to straighten out the industry.

Since the EU "yellow card" more than 100 people have been arrested over labour abuses and trafficking and around 130 freed from vessels and factories, according to police figures.

"These cases show that Thailand has a strong political will to deal with the issue of human trafficking," deputy national police spokesman ColonolKrisanaPattanacharoen told reporters.  

Rights groups accuse Thai officials of allowing people-trafficking to flourish in exchange for hefty bribes.

Trafficking survivors freed from Thai fishing fleets have told grim tales of horrendous working conditions, beatings and even killings at sea.

The Environmental Justice Foundation, a British NGO that has worked with the Thai government to address its fishing woes, says there have been positive changes in fishing legislation. 

But concerns remain that police mainly target low-level smugglers. 

"A very simple benchmark for real progress will be when you start seeing senior Thai figures in courts going through a process of a successful prosecution for their role," the foundation's executive director Steven Trent told AFP.

Thailand later this year will also face renewed assessment of its anti-trafficking efforts by the US government, which has given the country the worst possible rating in a annual trafficking report two years in a row.

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Thai authorities have rescued nearly 30 Myanmar victims from alleged human traffickers’ hands in Phuket province, Thailand’s The Nation reported on 2 February.

The rescue operation relied on information provided by a Myanmar man who successfully escaped from the clutches of the suspected traffickers, who were also from Myanmar.

“We have finally discovered a small place where 29 victims were locked inside on the province's Siray Island,” Anti-Human Trafficking Division's commander Pol Maj General Kornchai Klayklueng said at a press conference held on February 1.

Police managed to arrest three suspects.

Thailand's junta is ramping up pressure on internet giants Google and Facebook -- and the popular messaging app Line -- to scrub the country's web of any content it dislikes, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The military seized power in a 2014 coup and has launched the harshest rights crackdowns in decades, arresting critics, muzzling the media and banning political gatherings or protests.

The web, in particular social media, has remained one of the few avenues open to Thais to speak out -- though not without risks. Prosecutions for lese majeste, so-called computer crimes and sedition have soared with many arrested for online posts.

Junta officials are now seeking face-to-face meetings with major web companies to try and speed up how quickly they take down objectionable content.

Police Major General PisitPaoin, from the junta's committee on mass media reform, said officials would meet with Google, Facebook and Line over the next three months "to ask for their co-operation in dealing with illegal images or clips that affect security and the nation's core institution," a euphemism for the monarchy. 

"There have been tens of thousands of the illegal posts over the past five years", he told AFP.

Officials held the first of their meetings with Google recently. Minutes of that meeting were leaked last week by hackers and later published widely by local media showing Thai officials are pushing for big web companies to agree to takedowns without a court order.

Pisit said large web companies have reacted with reluctance over the past five years to previous requests to censor content. 

"We have received better response from Google in the US (since the meeting)," he said. "Now we plan on talking with Line and Facebook."

Globally web firms must comply with local laws and routinely block content within that country if presented with a court order.

But the leaked minutes suggest the Thai junta want a far more lenient standard adopted.

In a statement Line said it "has yet to be contacted by an official entity requesting such censorship" but added that "the privacy of LINE users is our top priority".

"Once we have been officially contacted, we will perform our due diligence towards the related parties and consider an appropriate solution that does not conflict with our company’s global standards, nor the laws of Thailand," the statement added.

The Japanese company is by far the most popular social messaging app in Thailand and is even used by many government ministries and police stations to officially brief media.

Last week a man was arrested for sharing a video allegedly mocking junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha with his friends on Line, suggesting Thai authorities are already monitoring the messenger for content it disapproves of.

Facebook and Google have yet to respond to AFP requests for comment.

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A 10-month old baby was among three dead after a 16-storey tower block was toppled by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in southern Taiwan Saturday, with rescuers battling to free residents still trapped inside.

Officials said four buildings collapsed in the quake which struck the island in the early hours of the morning, but rescue efforts are centring on the tower block that tumbled onto its side.

Firefighters pulled survivors from the twisted concrete, trying to access apartments through windows and scaling the rubble with ladders.

The baby, a man and a woman were pulled dead from the block, officials said, with 29 residents hospitalised.

"These three people showed no signs of life before they were sent to the hospital," said Lin Kuan-cheng, spokesman for the National Fire Agency.

"The search and rescue work continues there, home by home."

More than 100 residents have now been freed from the rubble, with local media reporting the tower contained more than 200 homes.

Officials were unable to give an estimate of how many were still trapped as they scoured the building.

At least 30 people have been freed from another residential seven-storey building with reports that over 200 have been rescued across the city and more than 100 sent to hospital.

One woman told how she had fought her way out of her home in one of the collapsed blocks.

"I used a hammer to break the door of my home which was twisted and locked, and managed to climb out," she told local channel SET TV, weeping as she spoke.

The shallow quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) around 2000 GMT Friday, according to the US Geological Survey, 39 kilometres northeast of Kaohsiung, the second-largest city on the island and an important port.

The quake was initially reported as having a magnitude of 6.7, but was downgraded to 6.4.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

A strong 6.3-magnitude quake that hit central Taiwan in June 2013 killed four people and caused widespread landslides.

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck the island in September 1999 and killed around 2,400 people.

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Mizoram State’s Information & Public Relations Minister Lal Thanzara told the 124th anniversary Chin-Lushai Conference held in Mizoram, India that borders cannot separate the Zo (also known as Zofate) tribes, reports Burma News International on February 8.

The Minister made the remarks during the Chin-Lushai Conference and ZoRO Convention, held by the Zo Reunification Organization (ZoRO) at Vanapa Hall in Mizoram State’s capital Aizawl on 28 January, according to the BNI report, citing Khonumthung.

“No matter where we have been born or brought up, we will not lose our common identity of being Zo descendants. Interstate borders or international borders cannot separate our brotherhood,” he said.

At the close of the meeting ZoRO made a declaration urging the governments of the countries where the Zo live to accept the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and to help the ethnic tribes to use the declaration for their benefit.

ZorO is based in Aizawal, Mizoram State, India and it has been trying to unite the Zo tribes that live in India, Burma and Bangladesh under a single administration.

More than two dozen Indonesians have died after drinking bootleg alcohol in central Java, police said Monday.

Investigators said a majority of the victims died after purchasing home-made liquor from a couple in Sleman, a town north of Yogyakarta city, local police said.

"Most of the victims were students," Sleman police chief Yulianto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP. 

The first death occurred last Wednesday, with more fatalities reported soon after. 

The police have arrested the couple who sold the concoction of ethanol, water and fruit that is believed to have caused 22 deaths. Four other people were also killed by bootleg liquor sold by another vendor, who has also been arrested.

There have been several previous cases where bootleg alcohol has proved fatal in the Muslim-majority country. 

In 2014, more than a dozen Indonesians in Java died after imbibing illicit booze to ring in the New Year. 

In 2009, 25 people including four foreigners died after drinking methanol-laced palm wine on the resort island of Bali.

Last year, authorities banned small shops from selling alcohol, triggering warnings from health advocates that the move could push people to purchase black-market spirits.

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Baton-wielding Hong Kong riot police fired warning shots and tear gas early Tuesday after a riot erupted in a busy district when officials tried to shift illegal hawkers, RTHK radio reported.

Television footage showed one officer pointing his gun at crowds of protestors on the streets of Mongkok who hurled bricks, bottles and pieces of wooden pallets at police in the worst clashes since pro-democracy demonstrations in late 2014.

Police fired at least two warning shots in the air, RTHK radio and the South China Morning Post reported.

RTHK said pitched street battles erupted after officials tried to move illegal food sellers.

Police said they acted after crowds ignored calls to disperse.

"To ensure public safety and public order, police took resolute actions, including using baton and pepper spray, to stop the unlawful violent acts," a police statement said, without mentioning any warning shots.

Police said three men were arrested and three officers were injured and had been sent to hospital for treatment.

RTHK later reported dozens had been arrested.

Mongkok subway station was closed Tuesday morning "due to public activities" and trains were not stopping there, transport operator MTR said.

It was the worst unrest in Hong Kong since mass pro-democracy protests in late 2014 sparked after Beijing said candidates for the city's next leader must be vetted by a loyalist committee ahead of a public vote.

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The United States launched annual military exercises with Thailand on Tuesday but repeated a call for a swift return to democracy in the junta-ruled country.

The two countries have held the joint Cobra Gold exercises since 1980.

But Washington has come under increased pressure to scrap the event since Thailand's military seized power in 2014 -- the latest coup to obstruct attempts to build democracy.

Some 3,600 US troops are in Thailand for the 11-day exercises alongside soldiers from regional nations including Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.

Strategic rival China will also take part in some humanitarian joint exercises, at a time when the US is closely watching Beijing's plays in contested areas of the South China Sea. 

US ambassador to Thailand Glyn T. Davies hailed the bond between Washington and Bangkok but recognised "temporary challenges" to the relationship.

"As deep and broad as our partnership is today, it will grow stronger still when, as the (Thai) Prime Minister has affirmed, Thailand returns to elected governance," he said in opening remarks.

"With a strengthened, sustainable democratic system, Thailand’s regional leadership role, and our alliance, can reach its full potential."

Premier Prayut Cha-O-Cha said last week elections would be held in the summer of 2017, irrespective of the political conditions at the time.

The US envoy's comments come as Thailand is making overtures to China, a major trade partner and source of cheap loans whose policy is to stay out of the domestic affairs of its allies.

The US has tried to walk the line between its longstanding alliance with Thailand and condemning the coup, which has been followed by a protracted clampdown on dissent. 

In the wake of the army power grab, Washington suspended $4.7 million in security-related aid to Thailand, roughly half of its annual assistance.

But relations have since warmed.

Thailand's long-running political conflict broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against rural and working-class voters loyal to ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

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Thai authorities have registered more than 70,000 previously undocumented foreign workers in its fishing industry, navy officials said Thursday, part of a bid by the junta to stave off a potentially ruinous ban on its seafood exports.

Thailand is under intense pressure to overhaul its lucrative fishing sector. 

Last spring the European Union hit the country with a "yellow card" warning, threatening to ban all seafood exports unless the military government tackled rampant illegal fishing and labour abuses among its fleets.

EU officials visited the kingdom last month for an inspection to decide whether a ban goes ahead, a move that could cost Thailand up to $1 billion in lost revenue.

Thailand is the world's third largest exporter of seafood -- a status that rights groups say is achieved through illegal overfishing and a reliance on low-paid trafficked workers from neighbouring countries.

The junta government of General Prayut Chan-O-Cha has struggled to revive the kingdom's slumping economy and is desperate to avoid any costly sanctions on the vital sector.

In a briefing with foreign journalists on Thursday, navy, fisheries and labour officials insisted the clampdown on illegal practices was yielding results.

"It's a national agenda, and the Thai prime minister has stressed that he has zero tolerance on this issue," foreign ministry spokesman SekWannamethee said.

The junta says documenting foreign workers, many of whom illegally enter Thailand from Myanmar and Cambodia and are easily exploited, will help end the cycle of abuse. 

Of an estimated 200,000 undocumented foreigners working in the industry, 70,000 had now been registered, said Commander PiyananKawmanee, assistant spokesman of a Navy-led taskforce heading up the crackdown.

"Around 50,000 were working in (fish) processing plants, the rest on fishing vessels," he said.

Those who had been documented would be allowed to continue working for at least two years, officials said.  

More than 8,000 fishing vessels have also had their registrations revoked in the last year, they added.

The military say successive civilian Thai governments failed to tackle systemic problems within key industries like fishing and aviation -- another sector that is facing the threat of international regulatory sanctions.

"During civilian administrations... sometimes we couldn't enforce efficiently," said Vice Admiral JumpolLumpiganon, who added that the EU's yellow card warning and the junta's rise to power had become a "catalyst" to push reforms.

Critics say the military's repeated interventions in politics over the last decade hobbled any civilian government's chances of instituting long term reforms.

Officials said they did not know when the EU would make its decision but they were hopeful Thailand could avoid any sanctions. 

"We are confident that thanks to the laws and regulations passed last year we have the tools to ensure that no underage or forced labour will occur in our processing factories as well as fishing vessels," said ArrugPhrommanee, director general of the Ministry of labour. 

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The United States issued a warning Friday urging Americans to avoid a central Laos province popular with adventure travellers after a sudden spate of deadly bomb and gun attacks.

Two roadside attacks killed three people last month in Xaisomboun province.

Those attacks followed a series of shootings at the end of last year, according to the notice published by the US Embassy in the capital Vientiane. 

"The U.S. Embassy in Vientiane has prohibited its personnel from traveling to Xaisomboun province, and encourages U.S. citizens to adopt similar security measures," the travel alert said.

Chinese state media last month said two Chinese nationals were killed and one injured in a suspected bomb attack in the mountainous province, without speculating on the motive.

One of the victims was an employee of a mining company based in China's Yunnan province, which borders Laos. 

Beijing has been sinking money into the sleepy Southeast Asian nation, a fellow communist state, in recent years and became its largest investor in 2014.

China also hoovers up landlocked Laos' water and forestry resources. 

The US Embassy's alert Friday also reminded travellers that unexploded ordnances are still found throughout rural Laos.  

During the Vietnam war US warplanes dropped more than two million tonnes of explosives across the landlocked country in an effort to cut North Vietnamese supply lines. 

An estimated 30 percent of the devices failed to detonate and 50,000 people have been killed by the explosives since the end of the war.

In a rare state visit to the cloistered communist nation last month US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was considering increasing the $15 million fund it provides to tackle the scourge.

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Buddhist monks scuffled with soldiers on Monday as thousands of orange-robed clergy met for a seminar to support the front-runner for the post of Thailand's supreme patriarch.

The row over the appointment mirrors Thailand's turbulent politics, with the abbot who is front-runner -- Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangkhlacharn -- linked to the powerful but divisive Dhammakaya temple.

Critics say the temple is closely linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former premier at the heart of the country's political rupture, and accuse it of trying to dominate the Thai faith.

Among those bitterly opposed to the abbot's appointment are influential Buddhist nationalists who loathe Thaksin. 

On Monday around 3,000 monks from the self-appointed "Buddhist Protection centre of Thailand" gathered on the capital's outskirts for a seminar in support of the abbot's promotion to patriarch.

Tempers flared as soldiers blocked their path to the National Office of Buddhism -- the body that oversees the religion -- where devotees had donated food.

Local media showed robed monks scuffling with uniformed troops as they tried to barge through the army's line.

"Around 3,000 monks came for the seminar," SomchaiSurachatri, spokesman for the National Office of Buddhism, told AFP.

"Ordinary people wanted to give them some food but soldiers blocked them, so there was some arguing and pushing."

A spokesman for the Dhammakaya temple echoed his version of events. 

Thai Buddhism has been thrust onto the front pages as the process to appoint a new supreme patriarch -- or top monk -- descends into acrimony.

Nearly 95 percent of the country's population follow the religion and many ordinary people have expressed dismay at the rancour.

The last patriarch died in 2013 aged 100. 

The appointment of his successor has been delayed by a probe into whether tax was paid on a luxury car given to the abbot, angering his supporters who say he is the rightful successor.

Last April the Dhammakaya temple returned some $20 million given by a company executive later accused of embezzling the cash.

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Preet Malik, the former Indian ambassador to Myanmar, says the country presents a 'strategic opportunity' for India and China.

In his recently published memoirs “My Myanmar years - A Diplomat’s Account of India’s Relations with the Region”, Malik says, “the external relations of Myanmar shall continue to rest on the poles of China and India as its great and immediate neighbouring powers hold the significant capacity to contribute to its economy and institutional development.”

Malik says the US, Japan and ASEAN will be the three other 'poles' for Myanmar's foreign relations. 

He said that by trying to develop Myanmar, both India and China can improve the lot of its people in frontier regions, some of them in ferment.

“For India, the development of infrastructure and economic links for its north-eastern region with Myanmar and through Myanmar are of great strategic importance,” Malik says in his 200-page memoirs.

He says the development of Sittwe port and the Kaladan Multi-modal project was hugely significant to the development of the Northeast, especially because Rakhine state and its coast were rich in hydrocarbons.

Malik says China has similar interests in developing Myanmar because the country could help connect its populous south-west especially its 'bridgehead' Yunnan province to the sea.

Myanmar could help China reduce its dependence on the Malacca straits for its exports and imports, especially oil imports, he says.

Malik says that after decades of doing business and supporting the military junta, Chinese diplomacy in Myanmar faced the challenge of having to deal with a much broader range of stakeholders.

“But this does not mean Myanmar has reduced its overall dependence on China or that it could afford to ignore China's strategic interests,” said Malik.

But he believes that Myanmar's open-door engagement with the world provides it with a wider range of options to avoid over-dependence on China.

The Indian diplomat is trying to drive home that some kind of a competition is inevitable, India and China could pursue a pragmatic agenda of developing the country together.

Regional groupings like the BCIM that includes both India and China, Myanmar and its neighbour Bangladesh, may hold the key to such a pragmatic agenda.

A woman was killed and 14 other Myanmar workers and a baby injured when a passenger van taking them from Phuket to the Tak border crashed into a roadside tree and overturned in Muang district of this central province on Friday morning.

The accident occurred on the Liang Muang-Wang Yang route in tambon Ban Pho, said Pol Lt Somchet Nutchanart, a duty officer at Muang police station. It was reported to police around 8am.

The van was carrying 15 Myanmar migrant workers and a one-year-old child. They were heading back to Myanmar, travelling from Phuket to Tak’s Mae Sot district.

The van ran off the road and slammed into a tree. The impact killed a woman aged around 42, and injured 15 others. Of the injured, eight, including the child, were badly hurt. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, Thai media reported on Friday.

Police said the migrants were working legally in Phuket. They hired the van and driver, SomkhidRiangchorhor, 58, for the trip back to the border at Mae Sot, intending to cross into Myanmar.

The officers believed the van was travelling at speed and the driver, who survived the crash, fell asleep at the wheel. Mr Somkhid and other survivors would be interviewed to determine the cause of the crash.

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Indonesia sank 27 impounded foreign boats on Monday, a minister said, as the world's largest archipelago nation stepped up a campaign against illegal fishing in its waters.

The empty vessels from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar were blown up or scuttled at five separate locations across the country, said Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti. 

The boats had been all caught fishing illegally in the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Four Indonesian boats were also sunk after they were caught fishing without proper documentation.

"The government is taking stronger and firmer action to enforce regulations to keep our waters safe," Pudjiastuti, a key figure in the campaign against illegal fishing, told journalists.

Indonesia has sunk foreign boats on several occasions since the government launched the drive to combat illegal fishing, with President Joko Widodo claiming the practice costs the country's economy billions of dollars annually.

However, the campaign has caused tensions with other countries in the region. China last year expressed concern after a Chinese boat was blown up.

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Transnational crime is booming in Southeast Asia, the UN warned Thursday, aided by rapid regional economic integration and patchy cross-border police work.

The problem is so acute that the UN estimates illegal trade across East Asia and the Pacific is now worth more than $100 billion -- more than the combined GDP's of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The stark assessment comes after the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched its EU-inspired regional economic bloc in December aimed at boosting trade and attracting more investment.

The vision for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is a single market with a free flow of goods, capital and skilled labour, which should help the region compete with the likes of China for foreign investment.

But in a report released on Thursday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned moves to pull down barriers are likely to be a major boon to the region's sophisticated criminal networks.

Those organisations already flourish amid widespread corruption and weak governance in Southeast Asia to trade drugs, wildlife, natural resources, people and other counterfeit goods. 

"Transnational crime flows have been growing rapidly in the region," the report's authors write. "The threat is clear and rising."

Timber is one area where crime groups can make huge gains with little risk. The report estimates that between 30-40 percent of all wood-based products exported from Southeast Asia are illegal "due to poor regulation and monitoring of the legitimate wood trade".

Drug production and smuggling continues to boom, especially in Myanmar which remains the world's second largest heroin producer after Afghanistan.

And shipping is another major weak spot seized upon by crime groups with $5.3 trillion of global trade transiting through Southeast Asian waters each year. 

"Of the 500 million containers that are shipped annually, less than two percent are inspected," the report states. 

Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the UNODC, said Southeast Asian nations must do more to combine their pursuit of increased trade with better policing and controls.

"This region is highly, highly unique," he told AFP, with countries ranging from some of the richest, such as Singapore, to some of the poorest like Laos and Myanmar. 

"They are building highways across themselves, they are putting new infrastructures in place, and they are having 10 to 20 percent increases in trade every year going into or through their territories," he told AFP.

But "they simply don't have the protection measures in place," he said, citing customs controls and policing systems. 

If the issue is not addressed "they will have serious troubles especially in the poorest countries", he added.

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Australia on Thursday warned that terrorists might be in the "advanced stages of preparing attacks" in Indonesia and advised travellers to take precautions, just days after a similar warning about neighbouring Malaysia.

"Recent indications suggest that terrorists may be in the advanced stages of preparing attacks in Indonesia," the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in an updated travel advisory.

"We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Bali and Lombok, due to the high threat of terrorist attack."

The advisory did not raise the overall threat level, which is at "exercise a high degree of caution", and noted that the department continued to "receive information that indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia, which could take place anywhere at any time".

It said travellers should be particularly careful when in places that have low levels of security and while at possible known terrorist targets, listing previous attack sites such as nightclubs, bars, cafes, restaurants, international hotels, airports and places of worship.

"The Indonesian government has recently increased security across Indonesia, which underscores the ongoing high threat of a terrorist attack," it added.

However, a spokesman for Indonesia's national police said authorities had not seen any indications of an imminent attack.

"We have not found anything worrying," spokesman Agus Rianto told AFP. "At the moment, Indonesia is safe."

DFAT on Sunday warned of possible attacks in and around the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur that they could be indiscriminate and may target Western interests or locations frequented by Westerners.

Indonesian police on Friday arrested dozens of suspected Islamic extremists on Java Island, but it was not clear if they were linked to gun and suicide attacks in Jakarta last month that left four civilians and four assailants dead.

The Jakarta attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group, which has provided a potent new rallying cry for Islamic extremists in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Indonesia suffered several major bomb attacks by Islamic radicals between 2000 and 2009, but a subsequent crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks.

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Global search and rescue charity MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) will begin a new mission in South East Asia on March 3 in the Andaman Sea, the charity said in a statement on 26 February.

The M.Y. Phoenix and its crew will coordinate with local coast guards, navies, local NGOs, experts and the media to track, monitor and, if needed, provide search and rescue in coordination with the responsible authorities.

MOAS will maintain positions in the Andaman Sea and adjacent waters. It will use long-distance drones to measure movements of ships that may be transporting refugees or migrants. In meetings between MOAS principals and various local and national government authorities, it was agreed that preventing loss of life at sea was a high priority.

“The task of the M.Y. Phoenix will be to observe and analyse irregular movements at sea with the goal of supporting local stakeholders in providing an enhanced life-saving response. Our aim is to generate a better understanding of the movements by the refugees and migrants and be ready to assist in cases where there is an imminent threat to loss of life,” said MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone.

MOAS will be the first NGO to provide a comprehensive first-hand regional assessment of irregular migration and trafficking using a vessel with an unprecedented technological capability. Data gathered will be analysed and the results shared. The goal is to bring a better understanding and awareness of the problem and encourage everyone to work for sustainable solutions.

Supporting MOAS onboard M.Y. Phoenix will be two other NGOs. Malta-based NGO MigrantReport.org, a news organization that focuses on migration issues, will be providing information through its ground networks. Fortify Rights, a human rights organization based in South East Asia with experience working closely with refugee communities in the region, will manage data collection and documentation as well as provide contextual guidance. The innovative Aerovel Flex Rotor drones will be operated by U.S. Company Precision Integrated Programs of Newberg, Oregon.

MOAS will sail out in early March and remain at sea for a minimum of four weeks. At the end of this period MOAS will review its findings and funding provisions with stakeholders. 

MOAS will be operating within the existing legal framework of the laws of the sea and has engaged in open dialogue with all regional stakeholders, including Malaysia and Thailand.

The crew aboard the M.Y. Phoenix include maritime, security, medical, linguistics, migration, mapping and aviation experts. They will be supported by the MOAS staff in Malta and a variety of international experts and professionals to assist in the core objectives.

“As we have already successfully done in the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas, we are cooperating and participating in an ongoing dialogue with regional stakeholders to see how our mission can be best performed. We are leaving no stone unturned in our mission to mitigate loss of life at sea,” said MOAS director Martin Xuereb.

Manipur is likely to lose a large chunk of its land to neighbouring Myanmar if the so-called security fencing or border fencing resumes without locating the exact old border pillars erected by both countries years ago, according to Indian news services, February 27.

In a joint survey conducted by the Information Centre for Hill Areas, Manipur (ICHAM) from February 22 to 24 with villagers along the international border areas of Tengnoupal block of Chandel district, it was found that many of the newly erected border pillars were set up deep inside the Indian territory, reports the Sangal Express.

Among the villages in border areas of Tengnoupal block, Nongam Satang village (73 kms away from the State capital along Imphal-Moreh road) is one of the villages where the old border pillar number 17 was installed by the Indian and Myanmar authorities after a survey conducted from 1967 to 1973.

The Myanmar and Indian authorities are said to be cooperating over the issue. The potential changes could see Indian villagers finding themselves on Myanmar territory.

The Bangladesh embassy recently displayed their country’s culinary diversity at a Pitha Utsab held at the Chancery premises in Yangon.

A range of 200 guests from the Yangon business and political communities attended the event held on February 23.

An array of home-made pithas, or cakes, and other food was provided as part of the observance of Amar Ekushey and International Mother Language Day.

The event was part of the Bangladesh Embassy’s ongoing diplomacy to showcase the country’s cultural and culinary diversity. The embassy organized the first ever Bangladesh Food Festival  and Exhibition-cum-Workshop in Yangon last year.