Rush hour in the border town of Phuentsholing in southern Bhutan and one of the main crossing points with India.
Every day thousands of people pass through here into the Himalayan kingdom.
Some enter for a better job with higher pay some hoping for a better future.
Most are Indian or Nepalese.
But do they really have a future as refugees in Bhutan?
The Hmong hill tribe in Laos was recruited in 1961 by the CIA, to fight a “Secret War” against the Communists of North Vietnam. Their job was to try to block the Vietcong’s supply route.Known as the “Ho Chi Minh trail”, it ran through Laos, along the border with Vietnam. More than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the fighting that followed.When the US fled Saigon in 1975, Communists also seized control of Laos.The Hmong, abandoned by the US, allegedly became the target of retaliation and persecution. This marked the beginning of the mass exodus of Hmong refugees into Thailand, which eventually swelled to more than 300,000.Known as the “Ho Chi Minh trail”, it ran through Laos, along the border with Vietnam. More than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the fighting that followed.When the US fled Saigon in 1975, Communists also seized control of Laos.The Hmong, abandoned by the US, allegedly became the target of retaliation and persecution. This marked the beginning of the mass exodus of Hmong refugees into Thailand, which eventually swelled to more than 300,000.Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley trekked through the jungles of northern Laos to find this dwindling tribe, the first television journalist to do so.
The Hmong hill tribe in Laos was recruited in 1961 by the CIA, to fight a “Secret War” against the Communists of North Vietnam. Their job was to try to block the Vietcong’s supply route.Known as the “Ho Chi Minh trail”, it ran through Laos, along the border with Vietnam. More than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the fighting that followed.When the US fled Saigon in 1975, Communists also seized control of Laos.The Hmong, abandoned by the US, allegedly became the target of retaliation and persecution. This marked the beginning of the mass exodus of Hmong refugees into Thailand, which eventually swelled to more than 300,000. Some of them were eventually resettled in the US, but many continue to languish in Thai detention camps. And at least 7,000 Hmong are still hiding in the mountains and jungles of Laos, including some former CIA fighters.Under constant threat of attack by the army — they are a lost tribe — forgotten by the world for more than three decades. Our correspondent Tony Birtley trekked for two days from the town of Phon Savan to reach their jungle hideout — the first television journalist ever to do so.
They fought alongside the CIA during the Vietnam War. And they’ve been paying for it ever since. About 7000 of them are still hiding in remote jungles, left behind by those lucky enough to flee. Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley is following their plight. In part three of his special reports, a brief reunion of sorts for one family.
China has marked the 70th anniversary of the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, when during the second world war the Japanese army murdered hundreds of thousands of the city’s residents.Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley reports from Nanjing, where a new multi-million dollar extension to the city’s Massacre Museum was opened so the city and the world will not forget what happened.