Malaysia has appointed a new ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar to try and implement the regional bloc’s stalled peace plan for the war-torn country.

In a joint operation, the Ratchamanu Task Force, police, and administrative officers detained 32 Indonesian nationals attempting to illegally cross the border into Thailand.

Foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura says Thailand remains flexible in its approach to the Myanmar peace process.

Two Indonesian migrant workers returned home over the weekend after being held against their will and forced into working for an online scam operation in Myanmar’s rebel-controlled Myawaddy border region.

Wang Xing was living in fear. His head had been shaved. He couldn’t sleep and was in a strange place where his captors were forcing him to type – the first phase of training for an unwanted role.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

News of the joint crime-fighting effort comes after top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi urges Asean countries to crack down on cross-border fraud.

(The Royal Thai Police via AP) BANGKOK (AP) — A Chinese actor who disappeared after traveling to Thailand and was found near the border of Myanmar in an area where online scam networks operate was a victim of human trafficking, Thai police said Wednesday.

Thailand sought to dampen safety concerns among potential Chinese tourists on Friday as fears mounted over reported kidnappings on the Thai-Myanmar border.

The brief abduction of a Chinese actor who was trafficked into Myanmar to work in a scam camp has rattled travelers from a country that Thailand relies on for tourism.

We are all vulnerable to the rapid spread of phone scams – including, it seems, world leaders. Thailand’s prime minister has revealed she got a call from an AI system, demanding money in the voice of another famous head of government.

Dozens of men from the ethnic minority sought escape from repression in China a decade ago, but have been detained in Thailand ever since.