News
Police praised for less ‘chaos’
Cambodia’s Interior Minister Sar Kheng and ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak on 23 February took a yearly meeting on national crime rates as an opportunity to lavish praise on the Kingdom’s security forces for preventing protests and arresting people on what are widely considered political grounds. Delivering opening ...
Access to clean water in rural areas hits 50%
Cambodia passed a key Millennium Development Goal milestone last year with half of rural areas now having access to clean drinking water, according to a Ministry of Rural Development annual report released on 23 February. The report also touted improvements to sanitation in rural areas, which ...
Laos aims for further strides in poverty reduction
Laos will further mobilise all of its untapped potential and step up cooperation with all stakeholders, backed by support from friendly countries, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The fight against poverty was the main focus of the Millennium Development Goals and continues to remain ...
State catch certification system ready for installation
The Thai government has begun the process of setting up a system of “catch certification” that can help to trace fishing activity from start to finish to upgrade the fishing industry. The move is part of Thailand’s attempts to standardise the Thai fishing industry and fight allegations ...
Dirty trucks being targeted by traffic cops
Vientiane traffic police have begun to issue fines to sand, gravel and soil trucks that are leaving trails of dirt and dust through the city. Director of the Vientiane Traffic Police Department, Lieutenant Colonel Youtthaphong Souvannasing, told Vientiane Times on 22 February that if police at traffic ...
Four million people to vote in National Assembly election
Some four million citizens out of Laos’ population of about 6.4 million are eligible to vote in the upcoming election of members of the National Assembly (NA)’s Eighth Legislature. The National Election Committee (NCE) made the announcement on 22 February when briefing the media about the progress ...
Hospitals hit by water crisis
The Public Health Ministry says five hospitals in the North and Northeast are facing severe water shortages caused by the drought, which has affected the hospitals’ medical services. The five hospitals are Doi Ngam Tambon Health Promotion Hospital and Pa Hoong Tambon Health Promotion Hospital in Chiang Rai, ...
Anti-drug vigilantes turn to the NLD
In the midst of a stand-off with local authorities, anti-drug campaign group Pat Ja San is lobbying the National League for Democracy to address the issue of opium poppy cultivation in parliament. The Christian drug-fighting vigilantes – notorious for their hardline tactics – have been encamped ...
Polio program to continue after some miss out
Health officials are to continue their polio vaccination campaign beyond the official end of the program, which was on 22 February, as it emerged that even in downtown Yangon less than half the under-fives eligible had been inoculated. The US$4 million Supplementary Polio Immunisation Campaign targeted 4.6 ...
Taungtha facing water crisis as wells dry up
The spectre of drought is already hanging over a Mandalay township, where villagers are being forced to pay K50,000 per load of water as their wells dry up. Taungtha township, Mandalay Region, has been facing water shortages as nearby lakes and wells go dry, said Ko ...
