News
Vietnam lists 17 sectors open for foreign investment
The Vietnamese government has published a list of 17 business sectors that are open to foreign investors, with some conditions, in a bid to improve the investment environment following this year’s record inflow of foreign capital. Until now, Vietnam – often criticized for a lack of ...
Bangkok office space faces strong demand in 2016
Grade-A office space in Bangkok’s central business district (CBD) will fetch a higher occupancy rate next year, say property consultants. In addition, monthly rents will increase to more than 1,000 baht a square metre due to solid demand and limited new supply. Surachet Kongcheep, associate director of research at ...
2016 set to be the ‘Year of Laos’
The year of 2016 will be the “Year of Laos” as the country takes the ASEAN chairmanship, US President Barack Obama visits the nation and the ruling party holds its 10th congress to select a new leadership. Obama’s decision to visit Laos next year to attend the ASEAN Summit ...
Missing Thai paramotor flyer safe in Laos
A Thai paramotor flyer missing since he strayed across the border into Laos on 26 December is safe in Xayaboury province and expected to be sent back home in a day or two, Phusang district chief Waradisorn Onnuch said on 28 December. Keep reading ...
Deadly attacks by bandits in Laos leave one dead, three injured
Bandits in a mountainous and isolated province in northern central Laos have shot one person dead and injured three others in the latest of a series of attacks on vehicles passing through the region, said a retired Lao soldier close to a high-ranking officer in ...
Vietnam’s high-ranking military delegation visits Laos
A Vietnamese high-ranking delegation led by Minister of Defence General Phung Quang Thanh is on a friendship visit to Laos from 25-26 December at the invitation of Lao Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Sengnouane Xayalath. During its stay, the Vietnamese delegation is set to have talks ...
Activists call for witness protection as major Thai human trafficking trial begins
Thai authorities must step up witness protection for a major human trafficking trial with the accused including an army general and one investigator fleeing the country fearing for his life, activists said on 24 December as the first witnesses gave evidence. The case includes 88 defendants allegedly ...
NLD lawmaker: ‘They are now operating the jade mines around the clock’
During the 8 November elections, Khin Maung Myint, 65, won an upper house parliament seat for the National League for Democracy in Kachin State’s Hpakant District, an area that has long been famous for its jade mines. The newly elected MP spoke with Myanmar Now ...
Vietnam suspends vaccination plan after desperate parents go into frenzy
Vietnam has suspended the administration of an infant vaccine nationwide after hundreds of parents, trying to secure shots for their children, caused a chaotic scene in front of a medical center in Hanoi. Tran Dac Phu, head of the Preventive Health Department at the health ministry, has ...
Protest outside Thai embassy in Myanmar against murder verdict
Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Thailand’s embassy in Yangon on 25 December after two Myanmar migrants were sentenced to death by a Thai court for murdering two British backpackers, in a verdict that has sparked anger in their homeland. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found ...