News
Vietnam Jan-July foreign investment declines 8 pct
Foreign direct investment in the first seven months declined by 8 percent year-on-year to US$8.8 billion, Vietnam’s Foreign Investment Agency has reported. Newly licensed projects were worth $6.9 billion, 1 percent up from last year. Keep reading ...
Report warns industry to prepare for the unsavoury side of tourism
With tourism on the rise in Myanmar, the sector must better prepare for an influx of orphanage and child-sex tourism – problems that are already prevalent in the more travel-worn neighbouring countries, a report by three NGOs has warned. The tourism impact assessment was conducted by ...
Thailand's economy isn't a Land of Smiles
Thailand’s worst drought in a decade appears to have ended, but the damage could cast a shadow on the economy for months to come. The crippling dry weather that first emerged in late 2014 is no longer present in the country’s 67 provinces, the deputy head ...
No relief in sight for Myanmar's flood ravaged north
Myanmar’s flood-ravaged northern regions are bracing for another deluge, after the Department of Meteorology warned of possible heavy rains due to a storm in the Bay of Bengal. The announcement, issued by the department on 27 July, warned that the storm was gaining strength and was expected ...
Thailand’s low ranking in human trafficking report could hamper trade deal
With the Obama administration pushing to conclude a vast Asian trade pact, the State Department on 27 July upgraded its assessment of Malaysia’s efforts to combat human trafficking, a move that could ease the country’s inclusion in the trade deal. Though the human trafficking report from the State ...
Jailings linked to border campaign, Rainsy says
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Sunday that the imprisonment of 11 CNRP activists for “insurrection” last week was a message from Prime Minister Hun Sen that the party must end its campaign to highlight encroachments along the Vietnamese border. Mr. Rainsy’s comments came after the ...
World Bank report casts doubt on Vietnam's actual debt burden
Local economists have advised the Vietnamese government to be extremely careful with spending because its public debt has reached a dangerously high level. They raised their concerns after the World Bank reported that Vietnam’s public debt exceeded US$110 billion last year. The figure is higher than ...
Arrests made at Cambodia NGO law protest
Cambodian authorities arrested six demonstrators 26 July as they protested against the recent passing of a controversial law regulating non-governmental organisations, officials and a rights group said. The six demonstrators — five men and a woman — were among dozens who rallied outside of the parliament building ...
Cambodia is prime for first slaughterhouse
Riding the wave of rising demand for beef in Asia, Cambodia’s long-awaited slaughterhouse could not come soon enough, with an emerging middle class in Cambodia also hungry for more premium meat from Down Under. Since 2013, Cambodian company SLN Meat Supply has been building Cambodia’s first ...
Koreans to conduct Laos – Vietnam feasibility study
Korea Rail Network Authority and Seoul University are to conduct a feasibility study for a new rail link between Vientiane and the southern Vietnamese port of Vung Tau. Keep reading ...
