News
Cambodia well suited for solar, though use remains low
Cambodia has a high degree of solar radiation, making the country a good place for the renewable energy source, a report from the Asian Development Bank says. However, the number of places using it remains very low. There are potentially 134,500 square kilometers suitable to photovoltaic ...
Map critics face arrest
Prime Minister Hun Sen has delivered a warning to anyone still thinking about criticising the government’s handling of the ongoing border demarcation with Vietnam: you will be arrested. Addressing a cabinet meeting, Hun Sen said anyone who persisted with claims that authorities were using “fake” maps or ...
Street food blues in the Kingdom’s capital
While street food vending is among Phnom Penh’s most visible cottage industries, proprietors are left in the legal dust as authorities demand unexplained “fines”. Dy Poch, the operator of a mobile grilled meat stall in front of the White Building tenements on Sothearos Boulevard, would rather ...
Myanmar seeks over $100m for ASEAN connectivity project
Myanmar’s Construction Ministry is seeking the parliamentary approval for a US$120 million loan to upgrade the Kawkareik-Mawlamyine-Thaton Road, a part of the Greater Mekong East-West Economic Corridor. Keep reading ...
Thailand seeks Interpol help to track blast suspect
Thailand has said that a deadly bomb attack at a popular shrine in Bangkok was “unlikely” to be the work of international terrorists, but appealed for Interpol help in hunting a foreign man accused of being the prime suspect. The military government was initially reluctant in ...
Costco sued over claims Thai shrimp harvested with slave labour
Costco Wholesale Corp was sued for selling farmed shrimp from Thailand, where slave labour and human trafficking in the fishing industry are widespread, and allegedly misleading US consumers about it. A California woman, Monica Sud, filed what may be the first such lawsuit against the retailer ...
Lao loggers backed by corrupt officials pillaged Champassak forests in July
Illegal logging in southern Laos’ Champassak province was particularly devastating on forests in July, according to a local police officer, who said businessmen working in tandem with high-ranking officials raced to cut timber in the region ahead of the start of the rainy season. The police ...
Flood coordination drastically improved, but not without flaws
According to the National Natural Disaster Management Committee, the ongoing flood crisis has critically affected more than 1.6 million people, displaced over 333,000 households and killed at least 110 people. The massive relief effort is still under way, with the current outpouring of humanitarian aid more ...
Foreign experts surveying for new Chin State capital
Experts from Germany are taking surveys on the earth quality in Hakha, as plans to relocate the landslide-prone Chin State capital move ahead. While a survey is already being conducted by the government, the Hakha Rescue Committee said it has contracted another, separate assessment by international ...
As water recedes, mud poses new problems
Even as floodwaters recede, landslide-plagued Chin State and some villages in Sagaing Region remain inaccessible behind a thick wall of mud. For more than a month, transportation to the hard-hit and impoverished areas has been almost impossible. Flash floods wiped out roads and then deposited deep ...
