This film was made to highlight the contribution made by soldiers from Burma to the Allied WW2 effort. While most here in Britain know very little of the Burma Campaign, the decision by local men and women in Burma to back Britain at a time when it seemed to be losing badly was to have huge ramifications on their lives and on their country. Many of these effects still live on today. This film is an attempt to remind us of this.

The year is 1945, and darkness is falling over the deep jungle of Burma’s eastern hills. Under the dripping canopy, a slight young man from the Karen hills is delicately modifying an anti-personnel mine. Holding his breath, he inserts the cortex carefully into the now deadly device and conceals it carefully in the undergrowth at the side of a jungle track. He scrambles up the steep hillside, uncoiling cortex as he goes. At the top of the hill, he removes the fuse from a hand grenade and connects it to the wire. He settles into position and waits.

Born in 1927, Saw Tun Thein grew up in a Burma firmly under British rule. More than 5,000 miles from Buckingham Palace, every morning he and his classmates would start their school day singing ‘God Save the King’. When I first met him in early 2017, the words were still fresh in his mind. He threw a jocular salute before giving a near-perfect rendition of the anthem, clearly deep-set in his memories.

In a modest bungalow in the suburbs of Yangon, Myanmar, littered with framed pictures of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, posters of General Slim, Union Jack flags and worn paper poppies, lives David Daniel - one of the proudest surviving veterans of the WW2 Burma Campaign we came across during our Forgotten Allies shoot. Daniel, 93, of Anglo-Burmese descent, retains vivid - and traumatic - memories of the events of 1941-45 in his country.

The low rumble of an engine, the faint whiff of diesel in the air; subtle clues that one of the stationary cars on this quiet Poplar street is running its engine and releasing unnecessary pollution into the air. Two volunteers, dressed in bright blue ‘Idling Action’ jackets sidle up to the vehicle and rap gently on the window. As part of efforts to clean up London’s toxic air, ‘Idling Action’ campaigners were out in force yesterday across Tower Hamlets, urging drivers to switch off their car en

A charity that saves food from bins and turns it into free meals for those in need will be playing host to some special lunch guests in Hackney: a group of MPs. Members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee will be visiting Foodcycle’s Hackney centre to eat a meal of leftover food later today, Thursday, in an attempt to raise awareness of how much edible food Brits throw away. FoodCycle describes itself as “a charity based on the simple idea that food waste and foo

Commuters were gripped by more travel misery as another day of strike action on the Southern Rail network got underway. The train drivers’ walkout over safety concerns caused cancellations across all Southern services. Today’s action began a second period of strikes that have already caused widespread delays and cancellations across the network for weeks. ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, said drivers will be staging further walkouts this Friday and more action is scheduled later in the month.

Thousands of commuters faced travel chaos as a strike by tube workers caused major disruption across the Underground network. The 24-hour industrial action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT), which started at 6pm, Sunday 8 January, was called due to a dispute over jobs and pay. At least 80 of London’s 270 Underground stations were listed as closed on the TfL website. 7 out of Tower Hamlet’s 9 tube stations were confirmed as shut, including financial hub Canary Wharf.

Motorists will have an easier ride over the next few weeks, as traffic police in Phnom Penh have been ordered to focus on easing the flow of vehicles ahead of the July 28 election rather than fining drivers for traffic violations. Around the city Thursday, traffic police assumed their new, and novel, role of keeping congestion to a minimum while ignoring the temptation to impose fines—both official and unofficial. “The top level told us not to fine anyone until the election is completed,” said

Cambodian students, graduates and jobseekers filled the main hall of the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center on Tuesday looking for employment opportunities with some of Japan’s largest corporations. Organizers said the event aimed to bridge the gap between skilled Cambodian job seekers and companies from the world’s third largest economy, which in recent years has shown newfound interest in the Cambodian market. Among those present at the fair were the retail giant Aeon, which is building a mal

Cambodian manufacturers on Wednesday received training from Korean designers on how to make apparel in line with current fashion trends in the hopes of assisting them in penetrating the lucrative but difficult Korean market. The event was organized by the ASEAN-Korea Center—an intergovernmental organization that aims to improve relations between South Korea and Asean member states—and was aimed at strengthening trade ties between Cambodia and Korea. Ki Bong-moon, second deputy head of the body

Filming Under Way on Cambodia’s First Zombie Movie Within the vast corridors of Phnom Penh’s derelict Riverside Hotel, a group of teens rush around a corner desperately seeking safety. Behind them, a terrifying groan reverberates out of the darkness. This was the scene on Friday about halfway through filming what Khmer director King Dom and Italian cinematographer Jimmy Henderson both said would be Cambodia’s very first zombie film. The feature-length film—being produced by a crew working for