Social development
Ethnic parties concerned over limited voice in 2016 parliament
Ethnic political leaders are concerned over their marginal collective role in Myanmar’s next Parliament, with the majority of ethnic parties enjoying few gains in 8 November’s general election. “It’s like we have been hit by a tsunami,” said Sai Aung Myint Khaing, a central committee member of ...
Lao authorities plan future UXO operations
Laos’ National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action sector in Laos has set a target to reduce the number of UXO casualties to less than 40 per year and provide assistance to at least 1,500 UXO victims in the period from 2016-2020. The target was set ...
ASEAN integration concerns aired at grassroots event
Hundreds gathered on 16 November in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park for the fifth Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly, where they called for issues ranging from deforestation to democracy to be addressed ahead of ASEAN integration. About 700 people from the Cambodian Cross Sector Network, a group made up ...
Mekong locals seek a voice on Don Sahong
More than 6,400 residents of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have signed and thumb-printed a statement on the Don Sahong Dam project, airing concerns ranging from the river’s diminishing fish stocks to the lack of transparency of the Mekong River Commission. The statement, presented last week at ...
Women in central Vietnam work hard at sea to keep families afloat
In the coastal Hoang Hoa District in the central province of Thanh Hoa, fishing is no longer a male preserve like it is in most places. Hundreds of women, many of whom suffered from severe seasickness once, accompany their husbands out to sea to make their ...
Vietnam sees 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease
The Ministry of Health has reported 44,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease nationwide this year, including five fatalities, all in the south. “The number of cases is down 30 percent from last year,” Tran Dac Phu, director of the ministry’s Centre for Preventive Health, said. Keep reading ...
FIFA ethics committee bans executives from Nepal, Laos
The ethics committee at world soccer body FIFA has banned two officials from Nepal and Laos for taking cash during elections, it said on 16 November. Keep reading ...
Rural latrine access on the rise, government finds
The Ministry of Rural Development on 13 November announced that more than half of Cambodians now have access to improved sanitation such as latrines. According to the ministry’s statement, 47 per cent of Cambodians now lack access to improved sanitation, compared to 89 per cent in 1990. The ...
Mekong nations launch Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework
The Mekong River has always been an important trade route between Western China and Southeast Asia flowing through six different countries. The six foreign ministers met for the first time to frame a cooperation mechanism, agreeing to launch significant projects to enhance water resources, public health, ...
Four die in southern Thailand bombing
A bomb blast at a village checkpoint in Thailand’s far south killed four people and wounded four others, police said on 13 November, in the latest deadly attack to strike the insurgency-plagued region. The bomb exploded late on 12 November evening in Khok Pho district of Pattani, ...
