News

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $200 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to increase agricultural productivity and diversification and enhance market access for Myanmar farmers, with a strong focus on inclusion for smallholder farmers, women and other vulnerable ...

Vietnam has given the green light to almost a hundred new wind energy installations, indicating the nation keeps powering ahead with renewables amid fears of looming power shortages as industry and population boom. The Vietnamese government on Thursday (25 June) formally approved 7 gigawatts (GW) worth of ...

Laos is pushing ahead with a hydropower project on the Mekong River, despite reservations aired by neighbouring countries over its potential to harm fisheries and farming downstream, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on Wednesday. The 1,400-megawatt (MW) Luang Prabang project will be Laos’s third and ...

Venue closure, curfew and state policies enforced to contain the spread of Covid-19 are affecting the labour force severely. Workers experience the impact in different magnitudes, with some getting less pay and seeing their working hours reduced. Others manage to work from home. Some lose ...

Authorities in Myanmar and Thailand say they destroyed more than $2 billion in seized illegal drugs Friday to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. In Bangkok and in Thailand’s Ayutthaya province to the north, government officials incinerated 25 tons of confiscated drugs, ...

Urban land rights NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut released a research document on Monday showing a slowdown in land evictions in the capital, but said there was little evidence the process was improving or following human rights standards. The document, released by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) and titled ...

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen released an open letter Thursday reporting a 73 percent increase in deforestation in 2019 at the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, compared to 2018, while criticizing the government’s ban on certain patrolling operations. The University of Copenhagen’s open letter used data ...

Laos has placed a strong emphasis on combatting drug abuse and illicit trafficking, joining the international community in battling the drug trade, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (pic) has said. The premier delivered the message joining the world in marking the 33rd International Day Against Drug Abuse ...

The US government has provided a total of $56 million to support Cambodia’s social and economy development programme in 2020, including $18 million to promote the Kingdom’s agriculture sector, according to a joint statement. The Cambodian  government, through the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) ...

Pandemic-hit Indian exporters, especially in labour-intensive sectors, are expecting their fortune to plummet further, as key competitor Vietnam has clinched a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU. The pact will raise competition between the Asian rivals for the lucrative EU market in a range of ...