News
Yangon needs 75,000 new apartments each year
Yangon will need around 75,000 new apartments to be built each year to accommodate the city’s growing population, but contractors are struggling to come anywhere close to this target. More than 330,000 people migrate to Yangon each year from elsewhere in the country, but formidable challenges ...
Rohingya trafficking victims endure stress of limbo, stranded in Thailand
The strapping 23-year-old Rohingya Muslim was matter of fact as he described being forced onto a boat in Myanmar for a tortuous two-month-long journey, beaten and kicked by traffickers as he watched scores die of starvation and thirst along the way. He said he was abandoned in ...
Myanmar official accuses China of meddling in peace talks
A top negotiator in Myanmar’s peace talks with ethnic rebels has accused neighboring China of derailing a nationwide ceasefire deal last week that would have brought Japan and Western nations in as observers to monitor an end to decades of conflict. Beijing has denied the accusation but ...
Laos' Luang Prabang set to hit tourist target
Laos’ World Heritage town of Luang Prabang is on target to hit 500,000 visitors by the end of this year after reaching 470,279 in the first nine months. Keep reading ...
Xayaboury dam 50% completed
After beginning in 2012, the construction of the US$3.5 billion Xayaboury dam is now about 50 per cent complete, according to a report by Vientiane Times. When it becomes operational in 2019, about 95 percent of the 1,285-megawatt electricity produced will be sold to Thailand. The dam, ...
Cambodia's new garment sector minimum wage set at $140
The Cambodian government set the new monthly minimum wage for the country’s billion-dollar garment sector at $140 on 8 October—up from $128—more than what factory owners wanted but far less than the raise demanded by some unions. Keep reading ...
Wife of jailed Lao activist asks Poland’s justice ministry for help with extradition
The wife of a jailed Polish citizen of Lao heritage has asked Poland’s justice ministry to request the Lao government to transfer her husband from a detention center in the Southwestern Asian nation to one in his European home country. Barbara Paklak-Thammavong told RFA’s Laos Service ...
Myanmar fishermen agree to return to Indonesia for long-sought justice
Fishermen who had been enslaved and abused onboard illicit trawlers plying far-flung Indonesian islands will soon be headed back to the nation where they were held captive for up to a decade. This time they’re after justice, and will take part in a lawsuit against one ...
Myanmar Central Bank issues directive on customer due diligence
The Central Bank of Myanmar has issued a directive on customer due diligence related to anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorism. All banks and financial institutions licensed by the Central Bank must develop effective frameworks to manage these risks, said the note, issued on 5 ...
CPI Yunnan calculates cost of Myitsone Dam
CPI Yunnan International Power Investment Company has recalculated its spending on the suspended Myitsone hydropower project, and is waiting for the Myanmar government to approve the figure. CPIYN is the majority shareholder in Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, the dam’s developer. The calculation was made in ...
