Social development

Asian leaders must address rising inequality in all aspects, aid agency Oxfam warned on 19 January, saying ignoring the issue would leave almost 500 million people trapped in poverty and threaten economic growth.   “Asia is now at a crossroads. It could continue with the existing policies ...

Five shouting protesters on 19 January morning shut down a meeting of the joint committee for housing solutions in Borei Keila before it could sign cash compensation deals with 56 evicted families. After a long and contentious land dispute, 56 families were set to sign contracts that ...

With so many supporters soon to be in high places, the Former Political Prisoner Society has high expectations of the incoming National League for Democracy government. About 100 of the MPs preparing to take their seats on 1 February, including NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu ...

A collection of houses and other structures belonging to nine families living alongside a canal in the capital’s Russey Keo district was destroyed on 18 January by a large group of men sent by local authorities. The Beung Salang villagers had been previously told to vacate a ...

Ethnic armed groups or militia may have abducted 15 young men and women who went missing in late December, local residents fear. The men, from the Shan and Ta’ang communities in Nant Onn village, Muse township, Shan State, had gone out celebrating the Shan New ...

The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) has appointed a former manager of Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) as its new chief. Two-thirds of the nine-member ThaiPBS policy committee voted Krissada Raungarreerat in as the new director-general of Thailand’s first public broadcasting service. The panel had ...

Organisers of makeshift camps for villagers fleeing a military offensive in remote areas of Rakhine State are appealing to the international community for aid. More than 300 civilians, all of whom are said to be ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, have fled to the safety of monasteries following ...

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health instructed relevant agencies to severely penalise small food stores and vendors on streets who continue to flout safety and hygiene regulations. Speaking at a workshop on this issue in Ho Chi Minh City on 13 January, its deputy ...

Rakhine residents in two northern townships say they are living in fear and do not dare go out after dark after government troops forced locals to work as porters during ongoing operations against Arakan Army militants. Relief workers say more than 300 civilians, mostly Rakhine Buddhists, ...

Lo Thi Thom is happily looking forward to moving with her family into their new spacious house before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. She is a 30-year old Thai woman from Kun Ha Commune in Tam Duong District. Her new two-storey house, which is near ...