By Larissa Liao, Kevin Krolicki and Poppy McPherson BEIJING/BANGKOK (Reuters) - The abduction and cross-border rescue had all the makings of the kind of action script struggling Chinese actor Wang Xing had hoped to land – only not as a reality star.

A jailed gambling tycoon fighting extradition to China received "inhumane treatment" in a Thai prison after saying he was a Chinese spy, his lawyers have told Interpol, saying they fear for his life.

China says it has brokered a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military government and a major ethnic rebel group in the country’s northeast.

The abduction of a young Chinese actor, who was trafficked from Thailand to Myanmar, prompted an unusually powerful public-pressure campaign and official actions.

Thailand and China will work together to combat fast-growing networks of illegal call centres along the Thai border with Myanmar and Cambodia, often staffed by trafficked workers, that aim to defraud people in phone and online scams.

In a rare call, the junta asked other nations to “participate in combating online scams and online gambling”. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Myanmar’s ruling junta has called on neighbouring countries to help combat the issue, which analysts say is worth billions of dollars.

Officials from China, Myanmar, Thailand reached consensus on eradicating telecommunication fraud centres in Myanmar on Tuesday during a meeting in the Chinese city of Kunming, said China's national broadcaster.

Thailand and China are collaborating to combat illegal call centres along their borders, tackling phone scams and human trafficking.

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.

Scammers under leading telecom fraud syndicates in north Myanmar are handed over to Chinese custody, on January 30, 2024. Photo: VCG. A senior officials' meeting on Lancang-Mekong

China says it has brokered a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military government and a major ethnic rebel group in the country’s northeast BANGKOK -- Myanmar’s military government and a major ...