News

Construction of the controversial Bt14-billion Chao Phraya Landmark project is expected to start early next year, according to a source close to the project. The source also said on 21 February that Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan had ordered state radio and TV stations ...

More severe drought is expected to hit Thailand between March and April, as authorities have already declared 11 provinces disaster zones due to water scarcity. State agencies are now regulating water more carefully and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the 1st Army, which oversees the central ...

Australians have pledged to continue their support for child development in Laos with a focus on strengthening the quality of primary education. This was the message given by Australian Ambassador to Laos John Williams and officials from Plan International Australia at a reception held on 18 ...

Vietnam needs to create policies to promote investment in agriculture to build a farming sector to compete internationally, as the country integrates into the global economy. Investments in agriculture remain modest, although the sector involved nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population, while contributing some ...

Many important transportation works such as expressways and bridges in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern region have increased inter-regional connections and faster pace of development in the southern key economic zone, with Ho Chi Minh City as its centre. The city now has two ...

Ho Chi Minh City will need VND13.5 trillion (US$602.678 million) more for its programme to improve water bodies, which started in 2001 with the aim of cleaning up all canals, the People’s Committee has said. Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the money would be used for ...

Human resource development and awareness of self-ownership and self-reliance on the part of local authorities is inadequate and is hindering the progress of grassroots development projects. This finding was reported at a meeting in Vientiane on 19 February to review development progress in areas along the shared ...

Somsavath Khemsuliyajack is one of the first Lao nationals to set up a business in Myanmar, which is currently one of the hottest investment destinations in the world.  Somsavath develops, distributes, and markets cosmetics under the brand name ‘SK Herbal’. SK Herbal’s line of products has ...

As a Kandal village braces for an investigation into a cluster of HIV cases, the US Centers for Disease Control on 19 February published a new report on the now-infamous HIV outbreak in Battambang’s Roka commune, pointing to high demand for medical injections and a lack ...

A patient who has been confirmed to have swine flu is receiving treatment at Cambodia’s Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, though hospital and Health Ministry officials on 20 February downplayed the significance of the case. A 2009 swine flu pandemic saw close to 500 people infected in Cambodia, with five ...