News
Pat Ja San abandons poppy field mission
A Group of Christian hard-line anti-drug vigilantes on 28 February abandoned plans to destroy poppy fields in an area of Kachin State after clashes broke out between their members and armed attackers in the past week. Pat Ja San, which is known for flogging drug users, said ...
Volunteer vessel to monitor for migrants in Andaman Sea
A ship, two rescue boats and a fleet of drones will be deployed in the Andaman Sea on 3 March to comb for migrants and monitor for smuggling vessels – and respond in case of a crisis. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station was launched by an ...
Vietnam rice exports rebound; prices stay low
Vietnam’s rice exports hit US$445 million in the first two months, twice the number of the same period last year, the agriculture ministry reported on 26 February. Keep reading ...
Work begins on route to link mountain town
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc launched the project to connect the Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway with Lao Cai’s Sa Pa town in northern Lao Cai Province on 27 February. At a cost of over VND2.5 trillion (US$112.5 million), the project will include a four-lane ...
Ethnic groups receive support
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said there needs to be a complete update of the mechanisms and policies to spur socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited regions. Phuc made his statement at a conference held by the Government’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs and the ...
Preah Vihear blaze razes timber
A blaze authorities have attributed to a forest fire ripped through a nearly 4,000-cubic-metre timber stockpile on a social land concession in Preah Vihear’s Kulen district on the weekend, although the company yesterday said it suspected a case of arson. Si Kiri, Preah Vihear provincial police ...
Prison guards on drugs, test finds
Drug use in Cambodia’s prison system is not limited to inmates alone. Prison guards too have been found to be using illicit substances, senior prison officials have acknowledged, with the government set to launch an investigation into the prevalence of drug use among prison staff ...
Hydro standards ‘below par’, study finds
Chinese money accounts for the overwhelming majority of investment in Cambodia’s anaemic energy sector, but while the government has been happy to take Beijing’s loans for the construction of hydroelectric plants, a study published last month found that such investment came with both ecological and ...
Rough seas impede oil spill cleanup
Thailand’s Marine Department on 27 February said it had not been able to clean up the oil spill from the capsized cruise liner Ocean Dream off Koh Nok in Chon Buri’s Si Racha district due to high winds and waves impeding their operations. In a press statement, the department ...
242 billion kip lost to corruption, inspection reveals
A Myanmar government inspection committee has uncovered almost 242 billion kip in lost assets due to corruption in 2015, resulting in 95 officials being disciplined. The shocking figures were released in a report that summarised the work of the Inspection Committee of the Party Central Committee, ...
