Social development
Thai PM calls for regional haze cooperation
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the Foreign Ministry to work closely with neighbouring countries to tackle the chronic haze problem gripping Southeast Asia. Short- and long-term solutions are needed to deal with the smog caused by slash-and-burn farming on Sumatra Island in Indonesia, Gen Prayut ...
Haze reaches southern Thailand, rises beyond safety levels
The haze from forest fires in Indonesia has reached southern Thailand, with smoke from the dust particles rising above safety levels in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district. Songhkla Governor Songpol Sawasditham on 5 October set up a war room to combat the impact of the haze ...
Laos to host ASEAN ministerial meeting on rural development
Laos has confirmed its readiness to host the 9th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication in Vientiane from 13-17 October. Speaking at a press conference on 6 October on preparations for the meeting, Deputy Minister to the Government Office and Vice Chairman of the National ...
Compensation for Yangon-Dala bridge to be paid this month
In an apparent effort to ensure good relations with local residents and avoid the problems that have dogged other development projects, local authorities have agreed to pay compensation in advance to people forced to move to make way for the Yangon-Dala Bridge. The committee set up ...
Lao Government seeks to improve primary education
The Lao government is aiming to improve the quality of education in pre-primary and primary schools, with the support of various international organisations. The launch of the Second Global Partnership for Education Project on 5 October took place to discuss the issue. Keep reading ...
Dengue’s link to El Niño
As Cambodia contends with one of the strongest El Niño cycles in recent memory, a new study of millions of dengue cases over the past two-decades-plus has shown that spikes in the deadly disease across Southeast Asia may be linked to the weather phenomenon. Upswings in ...
Police block marchers on World Habitat Day
More than 1,000 demonstrators from about 50 communities across the country gathered Monday to mark U.N. World Habitat Day and protest against widespread land and housing evictions, but found their march blocked by municipal authorities, who claimed the protesters posed a risk to security. Beginning the ...
On Cambodia's Tonle Sap, Vietnamese families face mass eviction
The Kompong Chhnang provincial government is in the process of evicting about 1,000 mostly Vietnamese families who live in the floating villages on the Tonle Sap river near the provincial capital, moving them up the river as part of a five-year plan to beautify the ...
Lao parents push children to study medicine
Many students at Laos’ University of Health Sciences are there because that’s what their parents want and are taking courses reluctantly because they have no personal interest in the subject. This is the finding of a survey carried out by Associate Professor Dr Mayfong Mayxay of the ...
Ceasefire to be signed by some armed groups in October, others abstain
A long-awaited ceasefire agreement between the government and ethnic armed groups will be signed on 15 October, negotiators said, though the pact will not be the “inclusive” agreement many ethnic groups had hoped for. Seven ethnic armed groups have committed to signing the pact while other ...
