News
New Laos dam draws criticism
News that Laos will move ahead with the proposed 912-megawatt Pak Beng dam, which would be the third mainstream dam in Laos’ Lower Mekong River, has sparked criticism from environmental groups who say downstream countries should decide the fate of potentially harmful development projects. Laos ...
ADB, Microsoft, govt expand economic opportunities for youth
The Asian Development Bank, Microsoft and the Ministry of Education and Sports have signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate and develop a technology platform to provide Lao youth with access to online technical and vocational training resources and employment services. The document was signed ...
Laos joins race against the clock to overcome antimicrobial resistance
Laos and other countries around the world have pledged to take immediate action to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Globally and in the region, the pledge to combat AMR was made with the support and collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the ...
Myanma railways to offer compensation for circular line upgrade affected
Compensation is on the agenda for Myanma Railways, as planned up- grades to the Yangon circular railway gather steam. Myanma Railways general manager U Htun Aung Thin told The Myanmar Times there would be negotiation and compensation for those affected by the project. “We held ...
Hydropower review taskforce stalls, waiting for instructions
A Commission member on the taskforce reviewing hydropower projects said the team has yet to hear back from the president about the first submitted report, which is believed to have advised cancelling the controversial, Chinese-backed Myitsone dam. The first report on hydropower projects along the ...
US President-elect Trump vows to withdraw from TPP on first day in office
US President-elect Donald Trump announced on November 21 that he will withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on his first day in office. “I’m going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country,” ...
Vietnam to host APEC gathering in 2017
As the APEC leaders’ meeting wraps up in Peru, attention now turns to Vietnam, hosts of next year’s APEC. “It’s ten years since the last time Vietnam hosted APEC, and a lot has changed with the country since then. In the last six or seven ...
Japanese aid package funding three JICA projects
Three projects funded by part of a recently announced US$7.7 billion Japanese aid package are under way, according to the Japanese International Cooperation Institute. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced earlier this month that his country would provide 800 billion yen in aid, loans and ...
Protest seeks K5600 minimum wage
More than 2000 factory workers staged a protest this weekend in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township, demanding that the government increase the daily minimum wage in light of rising costs of living and inflation. “Unless something is done to stop increases to living expenses, soon workers ...
Small-scale farming threatens rainforests in Sumatra
Rainforest cover in the Indonesian archipelago has since declined rapidly in recent years giving way to large-scale plantations of rubber and oil palm. A recent study published in Nature Communications finds that small-scale farming can be just as damaging to biodiversity as the plantations, since ...
