Thailand faced mounting calls on Thursday to stop pushing migrants back out to sea amid fears an exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Burma could spark a new wave of boatpeople.

The 20 were each sentenced to five years in connection with a ship carrying 208 migrants that was intercepted by the Burmese navy last month.

As the news coverage of the migrant crisis in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea drops away, the UN has made a renewed call for funds and action.

Two Reuters reporters were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for reports on the trafficking of Rohingya Muslims, days before two Thailand-based journalists will appear in court, where they may face up to seven years in jail for republishing one paragraph of the award-winning work.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sought to downplay Indonesian concerns about his controversial new asylum policy during a diplomatic visit to Jakarta this week.

FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM Brotherhood Alliance vows to take offensive nationwide The Yangon Regional Command ordered all local administrations and departments to be prepared for an...