News
Single gateway jitters in Thailand
With the Thai government exploring the pros and cons of initiating a single international gateway (single gateway), uncertainty is being felt in the country’s growing tech industry and e-commerce sector. The cabinet ordered relevant state agencies to report legal complications concerning the deployment of a single ...
Laos SEZs prove to be major job generators
Sixty-five companies from Laos and foreign countries including Thailand at the Savan-Seno Special Economic Zone have created over 4,500 jobs for local people. According to Thongsay Sayavongkhamdy, a senior official from the Savannakhet provincial authority, from now until 2020, both local and overseas companies are expected to ...
Rebels reject peace talks in Thailand's deep South
The dominant insurgent faction in Thailand’s southern separatist conflict emerged last week to reject the Malaysian-led peace talks being held with the Thai government. However, the hard-line National Revolutionary Front or Barisan Revolusi Nasional also signalled its willingness to open substantive negotiations, provided international mediation can ...
Chinese in Shan suddenly popular
Chinese-language posters with instructions on how to vote are causing controversy in Myanmar’s Shan State. Lashio town, in northern Shan State where Myanmar borders China, is home to a large number of ethnic Chinese people. Some have lived there for generations. Like elsewhere in Myanmar, a combination of historic ...
Thai PM calls for calm after Phuket street riots
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has pledged justice after the weekend’s Phuket riot sparked by the deaths of two young men, as probes were launched to find the facts behind the province’s worst street violence in recent years. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Gen Prayut promised ...
Laos refuses to host meeting of ASEAN civil society groups
Laos will not host a meeting of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Southeast Asia on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit next year, a local official said, citing potential criticism by participants against governments in the region and inadequate resources as among reasons for the ...
Hanoi lists 89 new tax defaulters in 'name and shame' strategy
With its recent name-and-shame policy proving to be successful, Hanoi’s tax office has released the names of another 89 businesses whose back taxes have amounted to nearly VND311.7 billion (US$13.78 million). Keep reading ...
Phnom Penh Autonomous Port seeks to generate $6.4M
The state enterprise that operates Cambodia’s second-largest port is looking to raise up to $6.4 million in its initial public offering and float 20 per cent of its shares on the stock market in December, according to a company draft prospectus released on 9 October. Keep ...
A countdown to refoulement
The planned upcoming deportation of Montagnard asylum seekers back to Vietnam will include 13 already recognised as refugees in March unless the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) can find a third country to resettle them, the UNHCR and a refugee advocate ...
US and Laos host Mekong disaster response initiative
The government of Laos, in partnership with the United States, recently hosted the Lower Mekong Initiative Disaster Relief Exercise and Exchange in Vientiane. The exercise and exchange is an annual initiative between the governments of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. Each year ...
