News
Hanoi’s first elevated rail line to start service in December
After several years of sputtering, Hanoi’s notorious elevated rail project now has a new finish date with the first train scheduled to run on 31 Decembe. The Railway Project Management Unit (PMU), the investor, and the main contractor China Railway Sixth Group Co. Ltd on 13 February signed ...
US issues travel alert after deadly attacks in Laos
The United States issued a warning on 12 February urging Americans to avoid a central Laos province popular with adventure travelers after a sudden spate of deadly bomb and gun attacks. Two roadside attacks killed three people last month in Xaisomboun province. Those attacks followed a series ...
Flood control: Giant Bangkok tunnel ahead of schedule
A giant new underground tunnel which promises much faster flood water drainage in Bangkok, expected to be complete early next year, will help six flood-prone areas of the capital, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra says. The construction of the 6.4-km tunnel,linking Lat Phrao canal and the Chao Phraya River, is ...
Power in numbers: mob killing in Cambodia
A year ago, a mentally ill man was beaten to death by villagers who had mistaken him for a thief. Despite only four of those involved being sentenced, it was a harsher punishment than expected – in almost all instances of mob killings, no questions ...
13 injured including one Chinese in traffic collision in Northern Laos
A traffic accident occurred 12 February in northern Lao Luang Namtha province, injuring 13 people including one Chinese, the Chinese consulate-general in Luang Phrabang confirmed on 13 February. Keep reading ...
The Mekong river: Damned if you do
The Mekong watershed nurtures extraordinary biodiversity, with new species of plants and animals discovered every year. It has also nurtured humans. Tens of millions of people—much of the population of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam—depend on the Mekong. Planners think the Mekong has a gift to give: hydropower. ...
Myanmar’s health ministry deems Thai cosmetic products ‘unfit for use’
Products of a popular Thai cosmetics brand were found to be “unfit for use,” according to an official announcement by Myanmar’s Ministry of Health on 10 February. “Two products of ‘Forever Young’ cosmetics were found to contain prohibited chemical ingredients that can harm people’s health and [we] ...
Fearing water shortages, Myingyan residents protest reclamation
Myanmar farmers are protesting against a plan they say will reduce their water supply. They say water is so short they have already been forced to abandon growing paddy and switch to beans and pulses. They demand that work to open up land around a nearby ...
Clashes spread in Shan State
Hundreds of civilians in Myanmar’s northern Shan State are reported to have fled a sudden offensive by government forces and separate fighting between two ethnic armed groups, while senior monks are intervening to help villagers trapped in the war zone. The two days of fighting in ...
Ho Chi Minh City businesses will need 19,000 new workers after Tet: report
Ho Chi Minh City will need 19,000 new employees for 1,371 businesses after the Tet Lunar New Year break, a labor center said. Keep reading ...
