Michael Sullivan

Got that itch to travel? With many international routes still closed, Asian countries with low COVID-19 rates are offering "flights to nowhere" that start and end at the same airport.

Last week, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul took the stage at a rally to read a manifesto calling for reform of Thailand's politically powerful monarchy — a move that could land her in jail.

Thai police have arrested leaders of a student-led, pro-democracy movement. The group has been challenging Thailand's government despite strict laws against criticism of the monarchy.

Sunday saw the largest anti-government demonstration in Bangkok since a military coup six years ago. Some demonstrators called for reform of the monarchy, the country's most revered institution.

Students in Thailand have been protesting in recent days over the military's involvement in Thai politics.

The Philippines has overtaken Indonesia as the coronavirus hot spot in Southeast Asia — the country has more than 122,000 confirmed cases. Critics say it has no coherent pandemic response plan.

Parts of Asia that seemed to have COVID-19 under control have witnessed fresh outbreaks. China, Japan and Vietnam, which had few or no cases in the past month or so, are seeing a resurgence.

Vietnam had been a success story in beating the coronavirus: zero deaths and only 430 confirmed cases. But a new cluster has changed things. The prime minister warns every province is under threat.

Najib Razak was found guilty in the first of multiple trials related to the siphoning of billions of dollars from the country's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called out Beijing over China claiming most of the South China Sea and says the U.S. will stand by Southeast Asian nations with competing claims.

The archipelago nation has been hit by the virus far more than any other country in Southeast Asia. Epidemiologists cite government failures.

Thailand is very heavily dependent on tourism. The coronavirus has hit the industry hard. In Southeast Asia, there are fears tourism might never fully recover.

Nations that are heavily dependent on tourism are trying to walk a fine line between the need to reopen their beaches and resorts and the risk of importing more cases of the coronavirus.

Advocates are urging Myanmar to lift internet restrictions in the war torn Rakhine state, where the world's longest internet shutdown has more than a million people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thailand was the first country outside of China to record a coronavirus case. Now, it is set to reopen after having slightly over 3,100 cases and recording no new infections in nearly a month.

COVID-19 has now reached refugee camps in Bangladesh where a million Rohingya Muslims are packed into makeshift camps after fleeing a violent crackdown in Myanmar. Aid workers fear the worst.

A 43-year-old pilot for Vietnam Airlines, whose name has not been released, was infected in mid-March after visiting a bar. He is in a Ho Chi Minh City hospital on life-support systems.

Crowded, unsanitary conditions in the camps — located across the border from Myanmar in Bangladesh — threaten a rapid escalation of infections among the 1 million refugees living there.

Boats full of Muslim minority Rohingya refugees are being pushed back by Malaysia, in part, the government says, over fears of the coronavirus virus.

Vietnam reports only 270 confirmed COVID-19 cases and zero deaths. The country started lifting strict quarantine measures this week to ease the extreme economic hardship it is facing.