Social development
Haze eases across Thailand's southern provinces
The haze from wildfires in Indonesia drifting into Thailand has generally improved in the southern provinces due to recent rain and strong winds. Chatchai Promlert, chief of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, said the level of dust particles measuring less than 10 micrometres, or PM10, had dropped ...
Cheap lunch a hazard at Vietnam factories
Mass food poisoning suffered by 441 workers at a factory on 21 October was a reminder of the unhealthy factory lunches provided in Vietnam, which has been a major cause of wildcat strikes and the fact that its productivity is among the lowest in the world. Truong ...
Chin State faces looming food shortage after flood crisis
Three months after the nationwide flood disaster, civil society groups say that government has vastly underestimated the damage toll in Chin State, where locals are facing a looming food shortage. While emergency relief has found its way into many affected Chin State communities, local aid workers ...
Cambodian Government acts on employment
Long beset by low-paying jobs and a lack of skilled labour, Cambodia launched its first national policy for employment last week in an attempt to provide better employment opportunities for its people. The 13-page document, which took five years to draft, aims to improve the productivity ...
Rice scare in Poipet reveals plastic pieces
A rice-milling company has admitted to letting pieces of plastic from its machinery make their way into bags of rice after residents and authorities in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town raised fears of “plastic rice” upon finding their rice abnormally sticky since the Pchum Ben holiday. Keep ...
Southeast Asia may see rise in dengue fever cases as strong El Nino unfolds
Higher temperatures in Asia, including those during a strong El Niño cycle, can drive up the incidence of dengue fever, a group of international researchers has found. For the first time, researchers have been able to review the big picture of dengue epidemics on a continental ...
Ho Chi Minh City smog to hang for another month
The smog covering Ho Chi Minh City since early this month will continue until at least the end of November when Indonesia is expected to put out its forest fires, an expert has said. After lifting for a while, the thick haze is back over many ...
Cambodia's dengue cases up 300%
The number of dengue fever cases in Cambodia has skyrocketed, with children hit hardest by the killer disease, according to new government figures. Incidences of dengue leapt by more than 300 per cent to 11,828 cases between January and September this year. Keep reading ...
Road safety efforts ‘insufficient’
A new study warns that a UN initiative to cut global road deaths in half by 2020 is on course to fail amid “clearly insufficient” efforts, with middle- and lower-income countries such as Cambodia at the forefront of the battle. Keep reading ...
A dreaded homecoming for Montagnards
With the deadline looming for hundreds of Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia to return “voluntarily” to the site of their alleged persecution or be forced back across the border, a group who have spent months living in the shadows this week spoke out about their ...
