News
Evicted families promised land but face food, supply shortfall
Thousands of Myanmar families evicted from military-owned land have been promised new plots in exchange for the 560 acres they were allegedly squatting on. The minister for security and border affairs in Yangon said the government has a compensation plan, but was light on the ...
Migrant workers languish in Malaysian detention centres
Thousands of Myanmar migrant workers are spending months or even years in detention camps in Malaysia waiting for the government to confirm their citizenship status, migrant rights groups say. The delay has caused a backlog in the 11 detention camps throughout Malaysia, recently returned workers say. ...
Demand for seasonal Tet workers on rise
The rising demand for part-time workers as Vietnam’s Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches is creating more opportunities for workers and students to earn money and gain work experience. Tran Quang Trung, a fourth year student of the Hanoi University, said he had been offered a part-time ...
Quarry incident raises alarm for work safety
When rescue workers retrieved the last body from a collapsed quarry in Yen Lam District, Thanh Hoa Province on 23 January, it raised the total number of work-related deaths in the central province to 20 since the beginning of 2016. The quarry collapse itself led ...
Strong Vietnam GDP growth, low inflation forecast for ‘16
Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) will likely grow 6.82 per cent this year, 0.12 percentage points higher than that predicted by the National Assembly last November in its resolution on the socio-economic development plan for 2016, the Centre Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) said on ...
Thai finance ministry trims growth forecast
Thailand’s Finance Ministry trimmed its economic growth forecast for this year to 3.7% from 3.8% and sharply cut its export estimate as global demand slows, a senior ministry official said on 28 January. But growth this year would be supported by government investment and economic stimulus, Krisada ...
Made in ASEAN initiative on the cards
Thailand is set to team up with the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and ASEAN members to push forward the Made in ASEAN initiative, making certain products to the same quality standards. Keep reading ...
Thai PM blames past policies for drought
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has blamed past policies that heavily promoted cash crops as a root cause of floods and drought. Commenting in the latest government’s newsletter, Gen Prayut said growing cash crops without controls leads to the destruction of forests and watershed areas, and even affects ...
Conservatives still call the shots in Vietnam and Laos
Vietnam and Laos, the only Communist regimes in South-east Asia, inducted new leadership this past week through party congresses. Changes in both cases saw conservatives prevail. The relatively secretive Lao People’s Revolutionary Party which runs Laos – which is chairman of the 10-nation Asean this year – chose Mr ...
Company denies illegal logging allegations
A company owned by a tycoon accused of logging vast stretches of forest in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park on 28 January fired back at its detractors, claiming that it paid the state more than $1 million in taxes and was cleared by a recent anti-illegal logging ...
