News
Luang Prabang sets sights on ASEAN clean city award
Laos is gearing up to submit Luang Prabang province as a contender to receive the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard in early 2018. Deputy Director of the Tourism Development Department under the Information, Culture and Tourism Ministry, Ms Phonemaly Inthaphome, told Vientiane Times on November ...
Malaysia silences 1MDB whistleblower in blow to rights
A chorus of international outrage was struck immediately after the sentencing of opposition politician Rafizi Ramli for disclosing part of the Auditor General’s report into the 1MDB corruption scandal, which has severely damaged Malaysia’s reputation in business and politics. London based Amnesty International immediately called ...
Trump vows Paris Agreement pull out; world unites behind green economy
The 22nd United Nations climate summit began as a wonky, low-profile affair. Nearly 200 nations, finally agreeing to keep the world from burning up, began writing the rulebook by which the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement could be achieved, while seeking the trillions needed ...
Indonesia ships first containers of timber under EU legality scheme
The first containers of plywood certified as legal under the EU’s anti-illegal-logging action plan were shipped out of the Indonesian capital on November 15, a milestone in the fight against blackmarket timber in one of the world’s most heavily forested countries. Of the 15 nations that ...
Thái Bình Province plans to grow 1,320 ha of coastal forest
Thái Bình Province aims to plant more than 1,320 hectares of coastal forests in the next five years and protect almost 4,000 hectares of forest, with total investment of US$18.7 million. The plan by the province’s authorities aims to recover lost forest areas, consolidate existing forest ...
Report: prison reforms must respect human rights
Prison reforms currently being considered in Myanmar fall short of meeting international human rights standards, Amnesty International said on November 10. New draft prison legislation represents a significant improvement on laws currently in effect that are more than a century old, but it still fails to ...
Agriculture urged to reach 1.2% growth
The agricultural sector was urged to exert all-out efforts in the remaining months of the year to realise the sector’s gross domestic product growth target of at least 1.2 per cent and increase export value to US$31 billion in 2016. Speaking at a press conference hosted ...
Bill on contract farming reform gets initial NLA approval
The National Legislative Assembly on November 10 overwhelmingly backed the first draft of a proposed bill that would legalise contract farming. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya said the bill would protect farmers against conglomerates and ensure fairness in contract farming, which would improve the country’s ...
Cambodia's labour ministry praises Trump's pledge to kill TPP
In the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise win in the US presidential election on November 9, Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said on November 10 that the president-elect’s campaign promise to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal would restore the Cambodian garment sector’s competitiveness ...
Factory openings provide 50,000 new jobs
More than 100 new factories were registered during the first nine months of the year, creating over 50,000 jobs, a government spokesman said on November 10. Oum Sotha, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, said the ministry recorded 116 new factory openings from ...
