News
Novartis launches chronic disease programme for poor countries
Drugmaker Novartis AG has begun a programme in Kenya, Ethiopia and Vietnam to supply 15 low-cost medicines to fight chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. The Swiss-based pharmaceuticals group said on 24 September its scheme would supply drugs for just $1 per treatment per month to ...
Thailand prioritises border trade
The Thai government is revving up efforts to tackle hurdles to border trade as it aims to achieve 1.5 trillion baht worth of cross-border business this year. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn, who chaired a panel handling border trade and investment promotion, said the priority is to facilitate ...
Rice mill owner acquitted of Bt11m embezzlement
Thailand’s Appeals Court has acquitted the owner of the Nopporn rice mill for their roles in the alleged use of forged warehouse receipts to embezzle rice worth Bt11 million, but upheld suspended jail terms for nine farmers in a case involving 750 tonnes of rice. Keep reading ...
Vietnam's Military Bank sees 2016 net profit growing 7-10 pct
Military Bank, Vietnam’s sixth biggest bank by market value, has cut bad debt to 1.8 percent of total loans, and its 2016 net profit could grow by 7 to 10 percent, its vice chairman said on 24 September. Vietnam’s banks, once blighted by crippling levels of ...
Borrowing costs in Vietnam remain too high despite very low inflation: businesses
High borrowing costs have eroded profitability of many companies in Vietnam this year, a business group said, calling for a rate cut and better access to loans. The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said at a meeting in Hanoi on 22 September that 60 percent of ...
Laos to highlight progress in MDGs in UN forums in New York
Despite its being a tiny landlocked nation, Laos has made some inroads in its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in providing primary healthcare to Laotian mothers and children in the country’s hinterlands. This will be the message that Laos President Choummaly Sayasone will bring to New ...
Myanmar factory workers weary of the Arbitration Council
Factory workers have had enough of the arbitration council, the nascent, quasi-judicial body established to resolve labour disputes through mediation. Nearly 200 garment workers fired in the wake of the new minimum wage have decided to by-pass the conciliation system altogether, alleging that the members are ...
Myanmar Government urged to halt alabaster mining near religious sites
Monks and local residents have joined forces to fight an alabaster mine they say is disturbing monks’ meditation and undermining their monasteries. The campaigners are demanding that Khine Mar Toe company cease its operations beneath the Yat Kan Zin mountain range in Pat Le Inn village ...
Under pressure on all sides, Union Election Commission reinstates 11 Muslim candidates
Eleven Muslim politicians have successfully challenged their controversial disqualification from contesting the November elections following a surprise reversal by the Union Election Commission. Their reinstatement after appeal followed concerted pressure from the United States and eight other governments, which had urged Myanmar to hold “a credible, ...
Mines on Cambodian premier’s UN speech agenda
Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend the opening of the UN’s General Assembly in New York on 25 September and has vowed to push demining as a development issue, despite it not being on the UN’s agenda. Speaking at the Sokha Hotel, the premier questioned the issue’s ...
