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malaysia

Malaysia deforestation liked to human cases of monkey malaria

Deforestation in Malaysia and the changes it causes to the environment are highly likely to be to blame for a steep rise in human cases of a type of malaria usually found in monkeys, scientists said on Thursday. The mosquito-borne disease, known as Plasmodium knowlesi malaria, is common in forest-dwelling macaque monkeys and was only recently found for the first time in people, the scientists said in a study of the issue. In research published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, scientists led by Kimberly Fornace of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said their analysis showed that changes in the way land is used is a key driver in the emergence of P. knowlesi in people.

Thai mass grave held bodies of 26 suspected trafficking victims

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre PEDANG BESAR, Thailand (Reuters) – Dozens of police and volunteers have exhumed 26 bodies at a mass grave near a suspected human trafficking camp on a hillside deep in a southern Thai jungle, police said on Saturday. The digging site, in Sadao district in Songkhla province, yielded five bodies on Friday and 21 more on Saturday, all believed to be migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh. “A total of 26 bodies were uncovered – 24 men, one woman and one unknown,” said Police General Jarumporn Suramanee, adding the operation was now completed. Illegal migrants, many of them Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar and Bangladesh, brave often perilous journeys by sea to escape religious and ethnic persecution and to seek jobs in Malaysia and Thailand, a regional trafficking hub.