News
Rights report decries Thai sugar firm’s tactics
Asia’s largest sugar producer, Mitr Phol, is responsible for violating the rights of hundreds of villagers in Oddar Meanchey who saw their land grabbed, homes destroyed and livestock killed to make way for plantations, according to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT). The Thai ...
Cambodia uses terror as pretext: report
Cambodia has been named among states accused of using counter-terrorism measures to clamp down on human rights and civil society in a report released this week by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism. Speaking in New York on 26 October, the British ...
Media understanding essential for regional cooperation success
The media has to fully comprehend the newly instigated sub-regional cooperation mechanism and participate in getting its message out to wider society for the initiative to succeed. Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Mr Savankhone Razmountry made the statement when speaking about the establishment of ...
Few surprised as Laos fails to win U.N. Rights Council seat
Laos failed attempt to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in a secret vote in New York was greeted with relief on 29 October by a leading Lao human rights group, which urged the communist government to adhere to U.N. rights treaties ...
Doing business is getting easier in Vietnam, yet still not easy enough
Vietnam moved three places to the 90th position out of 189 economies in the World Bank’s Doing Business report released on 28 October. The country’s score on a scale of 0-100 increased from 60.35 to 62.1, indicating an improved environment for businesses, according to the report. Keep reading ...
Bank of Thailand seeks better investment return
The Bank of Thailand is considering a plan to expand categories of asset class investment in order to manage its foreign reserves more effectively, says the Bank of Thailand governor. “If we can find an asset class that could yield greater management of foreign reserves, result in ...
Vietnam on track to replace China as new manufacturing hub: experts
With increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into its manufacturing sector, Vietnam stands a great chance of leaping ahead and replace China as the new production center, experts have said. They were speaking at a conference recently organized by the State Bank of Vietnam in collaboration ...
Global warming to decrease productivity in Thailand - report
Rising temperatures and humidity due to climate change are likely to increase the number of days with unsafe “heat stress,” putting Thailand at risk of a significant drop in productivity, a research firm said on 28 October. Thailand – with three of the 50 highest-risk cities ...
The Vietnam War's 'time bomb' legacy for Laos
The confrontation is immediate — a hundred cluster bombs suspended from the ceiling on fishing wire. This is the display that greets visitors to the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) centre in Vientiane. Between 1964 and 1973, more than 580,000 US bombing missions made the once-tranquil ...
Korea signs US$80.8 million loan for hydropower project with Laos
The Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund from the Republic of Korea has signed a loan agreement for US$80.8 million (about 658 billion kip) with the Lao government. The funds will be used for the development of the Xepian-Xenamnoy hydropower plant in Champassak province. The loan agreement was ...
