News
New university to link up to SE Asian economic corridor
A new research university at Savannakhet – Laos’ second-largest city – in the western region is being built with loans and funding of up to US$40 million from the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to provide skilled graduates for the region’s ‘economic corridor’ that runs ...
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to cut rubber exports
The three Southeast Asian countries grouped in the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) will cut exports by 615,000 tons in the six months until August 31, 2016. Indonesia agreed to cut its exports by 238,736 tons, while Malaysia and Thailand pledged to reduce their overseas ...
Provide communities with more tourism benefit: Thai PM
Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chanocha is pushing community tourism as part of long-term development plan to funnel more money to local communities. Keep reading ...
Thai PM to attend inaugural US-ASEAN summit
Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the inaugural US-ASEAN summit in United States next week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee revealed on 5 February. The event will be held at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California from 14-18 February on the invitation of US President Barack ...
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi names former general to head key advisory panel
Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party on 4 February nominated Shwe Mann, one of the country’s most powerful politicians, to head a prominent legal advisory panel, as the freshly elected parliament prepares to choose a new president. Shwe Mann, the No. 3 in the junta ...
‘Fifth Estate’ app aims for govt accountability in Myanmar
In a country now saturated with smartphones and an information-hungry population, it was only a matter of time before someone developed an app for civic engagement with the newly elected National League for Democracy-led government. Enter Ko Soe Lin Htoot, a 32-year-old computer designer who hopes ...
Ethnic MPs get ready to take on the majority
Even though Myanmar’s NLD controls both houses of parliament, ethnic minority MPs are ready to take on the majority to improve ethnic rights. The representative of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, which won two upper house and two lower house seats, said that even with a small ...
Thai TV faces loss of digital licences over unpaid fees
Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is expected to revoke the licences of cash-strapped Thai TV Co’s two channels without further notification on 8 February. Secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said the regulator had offered the company many chances to solve its financial problems. Keep reading ...
Pacific Rim nations sign giant trade deal amid protests
The US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest trade deals in history, was signed in New Zealand on 4 February as protestors demonstrated over fears for jobs and sovereignty. The ambitious deal, promising the elimination of nearly all tariffs among the 12 member nations, aims to break ...
Petrol-smuggling fight requires co-operation
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on ministries and agencies to co-operate better with the coast guard and border guard in fighting petrol smuggling. Phuc, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on the Prevention and Control of Smuggling, Trade Fraud and ...
