Social development
Armed Chinese threaten Lao banana workers
Armed Chinese guards are forcing Lao workers in the country’s northern Oudomxay province to labor in banana plantations contaminated with dangerous chemicals, local sources tell RFA’s Lao Service. A chief of the Nongbouadeang village in the province’s Houn district told RFA that 50 Lao workers in ...
Lao education officials confer on higher education strategy
Lao Ministry of Education and Sports’ senior officials and involved sectors gathered on 5 February to discuss national higher education development and strategic planning from now until 2025. The meeting’s major goals were to draft a strategy and development plan for the higher education sector for the ...
Despite rise in deadly accidents, seat belts not catching on
The penalties for failing to fasten your seat belt may include a K30,000 fine and a broken neck. The police are not enforcing the first part of the penalty because the necessary by-laws have not yet been approved by parliament. But the second part of the ...
New university to link up to SE Asian economic corridor
A new research university at Savannakhet – Laos’ second-largest city – in the western region is being built with loans and funding of up to US$40 million from the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to provide skilled graduates for the region’s ‘economic corridor’ that runs ...
‘Fifth Estate’ app aims for govt accountability in Myanmar
In a country now saturated with smartphones and an information-hungry population, it was only a matter of time before someone developed an app for civic engagement with the newly elected National League for Democracy-led government. Enter Ko Soe Lin Htoot, a 32-year-old computer designer who hopes ...
Ethnic MPs get ready to take on the majority
Even though Myanmar’s NLD controls both houses of parliament, ethnic minority MPs are ready to take on the majority to improve ethnic rights. The representative of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, which won two upper house and two lower house seats, said that even with a small ...
Vietnamese PM issues decree on nutrients newly required in food
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a decree to introduce iodine, iron, zinc and vitamin A as compulsory elements that need to be contained in Vietnamese food. Decree 09/2016/ND-CP on food fortification released last week and to take effect from 15 March this year ...
Thailand's NLA passes teen mom prevention bill
The National Legislative Assembly Thursday passed the final reading of a bill aimed at reducing pregnancies among teenage girls. The bill was passed in the third reading with 179 votes while six NLA members abstained. Keep reading ...
New Sri Sathya Sai school to accept more enrolments
The first ever Sri Sathya Sai School in Laos, based on a human-value based educational model, has plans to accept more enrolments for the 2016-2017 academic year after opening its doors last September. To date, there are 74 children, including 37 females attending the class from ...
Rakhine government builds homes for displaced people
The Rakhine State government has started building new homes in six villages in Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships for civilians who fled fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and the military last month. District and township authorities, as well as police, had ordered IDPs (internally displaced people) to ...
